Shadow of the Immortals
by Cheesebobington
Summary: If you take everything someone has to live for, they will either kill you out of blind rage or join you out of insanity. Twyla x OC
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my first fanfic so please be patient and bear with me, also don't let the beginning discourage you. I do not own the Monster High franchise Mattel does, I only own the OCs.**

Chapter 1

Connor burst through the door and instantly fell to his knees in pain; he turned his body and threw the other vampire off his back then removed the dagger from his neck. He started running again but what he saw caused him to freeze dead in his tracks, 20 feet away stood Sanguine. With a knife pressed up against the throat of the person he cared about the most in the world, Twyla. Connor flipped the knife into a reverse grip and bared his fangs but stopped moving when Sanguine pressed the knife deeper into Twyla's neck drawing a small amount of blood. "Please don't hurt her!" Connor pleaded "She hasn't done anything to you!" "I am sorry Connor" Sanguine replied nonchalantly "but you care too much about her to let her live, I promise her death will be quick." And with that Sanguine brought back his hand and thrust the knife downward for the killing blow.

Approximately three weeks earlier

Connor was sitting outside the Headmistresses office waiting for his guide to show up. Today was his first day at Monster High and he was a little nervous being a transfer student from Dublin, Ireland. When everyone heard about him coming to Monster High they probably all assumed he would be a Leprechaun with bright red hair, but the truth was far from this assumption for he was actually a vampire with short black hair and blue eyes (and an extremely short temper). When Connor saw his guide coming he wasn't expecting it to be his old childhood friend Scarah Screams to show up. "Connor? Is that you mate?" She exclaimed with a light Irish accent. "Scarah! I haven't seen you since we were kids!" Connor said with a barely noticeable accent. "I know! So I guess I'm supposed to show you around the school? Alright lets show you all your classes first and then we can stop by the Creepeteria for lunch How's that sound?" "sounds good lead the way!"

"Alright Connor I have to go take care of some things but this is the Creepeteria so grab some food and sit down anywhere." "Sounds good thanks Scarah." Connor went to the line and grabbed a rare steak and an O+ to drink and looked around wondering where to sit. As he was standing there looking like an idiot he heard a male voice call out "new guy come sit over here with us!" Connor turned to his left and saw a table where a Gorgon with green hair (snakes), who Connor assumed was the one who called his name, sat with a big werewolf, a blue water monster with a glass dome on his head, and a normie in a sweater vest with black hair and yellow highlights. Connor walked over and sat with the group next to the gorgon who called him over. "Hey I'm Deuce" the gorgon said "The werewolf is Clawd, The blue fish dude is Gil, and the normie is Jackson." "Hey I'm Connor." "So Connor" Deuce said "Are you a Normie or a vampire?" "Um I'm a vampire" Connor replied. When he said 'vampire' Connor noticed the werewolf stiffen and Connor said "hey Clawd right? Ok I'm not some holier than thou vampire straight out of belfry prep I'm cool with vampires and werewolves hanging out together." "Oh no man it's just the last time a vampire came into the school, excluding the belfry prep students, he stole my girlfriend and almost harvested her heart for his screwed up trophy case." Clawd replied. "Ok well I don't plan on harvesting any hearts so I think you're all clear." Connor replied. Clawd chuckled "I like you Connor hey do you want to come over to my house on Friday, Deuce will be there but I think the more the merrier because my little sisters are having their friends over too so I'll need some guys to outweigh all the women in the house." "Sounds good Clawd I'll be there" "Alright see you there." Connor thought about this for a moment, he just made two new friends and he would be hanging out with them on Friday, this was going to be more fun than he thought.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: sorry itook so long guys, I kind of lost motivation for this story, than I forgot about until someone PM'd me asking about chapter 2. Which is what this is if you couldn't guess. So before I start let me get a couple things clear 1. I did not like how chapter 1 turned out at all, everything after the (hopefully) dreaded event I foreshadowed seemed kind of rushed to me. However I will not be re writing it so I can focus on releasing new chapters I will be changing the 3 week time period to 2 months. 2. I do not own MH or Linkin park or the song bleed it out which is owned by linkin park. 3. From now on in this story MH as well as all the students and faculty will be nocturnal, this just helps the story flow easier and keeps Connor from turning into a lovely pile of ash. 4. Feel free to write a review, not only does it help improve my writing (By the way I would like to thank dragongirl for the tips and alanvaladaz for the comment, I Really appreciate it C:) But it also gives me an idea of how many of you actually like this. Ok so here it is, chapter 2 enjoy. C:

Chapter 2

Connor's POV, Friday, October 5th

I'm walking down the moonlit road to the address Clawd gave me for the sleep over. In case I get caught in the sun (unlikely but im not eager to do it) I'm wearing my favorite black leather jacket with a hood I had sewn on myself…and by sewn I mean sloppily attached with safety pins and duct tape. Not exactly fashionable and I've never been eager to test it out so I don't know if its functional either. I don't get what normies think is so great about sunlight, moonlight is so much better, the way it makes the shadows dance on the ground, illuminates everything just right most of time, and to top it off you can actually look at the moon without getting blinded or in my case a severe case of spontaneous combustion. A few minutes of walking later I'm at what I assumed to be Clawds house so I rang the doorbell. "Don't worry I've got it!" I hear a girl yell, then the door opens and im met with a face I've never seen before. "Can I help you?" she asks in the sweetest voice I've ever heard. The girl in front of me has bluish-grey skin, light green hair with teal and blue highlights, and she's wearing a jacket of similar color scheme, with a spider web patterned skirt, and intricate smoke swirl high heels. She is absolutely beautiful and I stand there for a good 15 seconds, with my mouth probably hanging open. "Oookaaaay…..goodnight" she starts closing the door which brings me out of my funk. "Wait!" I yell, probably too loudly. "Im looking for the wolf residence, is this it?" She opens her mouth to answer but stops when Clawd yells from in the house. "Hey Connor! What the hell took you so long? We thought you bailed on us! You texted me saying you left your uncle's house an hour ago!" The girl who answered the door moved to let me in and closed it behind me. I used my vampire speed to get to Clawd's room quicker….and to show off to the pretty girl who answered the door. I didn't hurt myself in the inclosed space because when my brain senses me moving faster, it kind of… slows down how I perceive time so I don't run into anyone or anything, the downside I fell off the roof of my uncle's house once and time was slow all the way to the ground. Which also sucks (AN: vampire puns!) because I have a paralyzing fear of heights. I arrive in Clawd's room in about 2 seconds and close the door behind me. "I'd never bail on you guys! Literally everyone I know at monster high is at this house. Sorry I took so long though I was admiring the shadows." I look around the room and everyone from lunch on my first day at monster high is there, including Jackson whom I hoped wasn't going to show. I really wish I ate before I came here….If I lose control of myself and try to eat Jackson…. (AN: just assume everyrtime Connor or any other vampire says 'eat' that they mean 'completely drain of blood')….well I'd rather not think about that. Besides Clawd should be able to restrain me if I get all Bloodthirsty...I hope. Anyway everyone was looking at me funny, as if I were some abstract painting they were trying to understand. "What is it? Do I have something in my fangs?!" I asked panicking, because I didn't want that to be that girl's first impression of me. Deuce spoke up "No you've got nothing in you're fangs, It's just…You know that were all nocturnal right?" I nodded slowly "and you know that most shadows are formed at night correct?" I nod again "so what is so special about tonight's shadow's that it took you an hour to make what you said was about 15 minutes walking quickly, while you have vampire speed?!" He seems a little stressed out, I wonder if its for the same reason as me. "Ohhh ok, That's why you're looking at me funny…well usually it's too dark and I cant see any shadows because my night vision kicks in." that answer satisfied the monsters in the room but Jackson still looked confused. "So wait…" Jackson started "since when do vampires have night vision?" I think for a moment. "Well Its more accurate to say I can see well in the dark, and vampires are night hunters so I guess we've always had the ability? I'm not too knowledgeable on vampire evolution, ask Laura." Jackson nodded, I looked over to Clawd's TV and saw Gil playing some fantasy game. He was in a dark castle and was talking to someone in blood red armor, glowing red eyes, and long fangs, who I guess was supposed to be a vampire. I swear normies _Always_ screw up vampires in one way or another. This time it was the eyes, our eyes turn red only when we are angry, hungry, or severely injured, and they sure as hell don't glow! Glowing eyes would be something prey could easily spot in the dead of night so that would be ridiculous! The 'vampire' on screen started to talk "I offer my blood, take it and you will walk as a lion among sheep, your strength will increase tenfold and you will never fear death again." "Unless you come into contact with sunlight, silver, wooden steaks, salt water, fire, and decapitation." I said mocking the vampire's voice. Clawd looked back at me "Do you uh..want us to turn this off? It looks like its bugging you." I thought for a moment "yeah could you please? I just don't like watching movies or playing games wear vampires aren't portrayed realisticly…" "That's understandable, well Connor we've spent the last week with you and you've been playing your cards close to your chest so we don't know much about you. Spill." "Well…" I begin but I don't know what to say, I don't talk about myself that much because I'm kind of an introvert. "…My favorite food is bloody steaks, my favorite drink is blood, my favorite color is-" Clawd interrupted me "wait I know! Is it BLOOD red?" I roll my eyes "very funny,its actually blue." "Ok what about music? What's your favorite band?" Deuce asks. "it's Linkin Park, and my favorite song by them is 'Bleed it out'." Clawd started laughing at that and soon everyone in the room was laughing. We got excessively loud surprisingly fast.

30 seconds later

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* "What the hell is going on in there ?!" I heard from behind the door must have been Clawd's sisters. I was the first to answer still laughing . "It's called having fun, but if its bugging you we can stop being so loud." A different voice answered this time "That'd be great." I heard them walk away to their rooms and close their doors. "well that was fun" Clawd said "what should we do now?" Finally we decided to watch a movie. "what movie should we watch?" I asked. GIl replied first rather excitedly "Ive got one!" "Quiet!" I hissed at him, a little harshly. "Sorry, It's this movie that I found about vampires and werewolves having a war! Lagoona says it's really good!" "What's it called?" I asked sounding a little skeptical. "Twilight." Was his reply, everyone agreed, which made Jackson start laughing and shaking his head. "what is it?" Duece asked slightly confused. "Oh nothing" Jackson replied "you guys are going to have a real treat." Something about the way he said that absolutely dripping with sarcasm, makes me wonder if we should watch this.

AN: ok so the video game Deuce was playing was based off the dawngaurd expansion for Skyrim, which basically improves vampires in the main game. Again feel free to leave a review. If you have any ideas for the story PM me and if I use them ill make sure you get the credit for them. See you in chapter 3 which might not come out until Saturday because I go back to school on Tuesday (boooooo!)


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: here's chapter 3! let me just warn you now ya now, you won't like where it ends. You should still read it because this is the first TwylaxConnor chapter! I hope my writing gets better with each chapter, I had a little hiccup with chapter 2 where part of Gil's dialogue got screwed up but I've probably fixed that by now. You know the drill I do not own Monster high, so far I only own Connor and Sanguine. Also look up the lyrics to iron by woodkid. I plan to make Connor feel like the man who sings the lyrics later! :) but do not fret everything will come out in the wash my readers! Also anyone who can guess what Connor's last name means gets an Internet cookie! Their will be a hint at the end of the chapter.**

**Connor's POV**

**"What the hell is that idiot of a vampire doing? He's going to get his ass roas- oh for the love of...you've got to kidding me...is...is he sparkling?!" Iyell to no one in particular. **

**"Yes, yes he is" answered Jackson.**

**"So" I begin "you mean to tell me that not only do the Cullins, who are supposed VAMPIRES, do not drink **

**blood and sparkle in the sunlight?" **

**"That's not entirely accurate, they do drink blood it's just not...human blood."**

**"HUMAN BLOOD IS THE ONLY KIND WORTH DRINKING FOR VAMPIRES!" I shout, more at the movie than Jackson."Besides its also the best...t-tasting...thing in the world...man I AM STARVING!" I say feeling the beast inside of me stir with each word as I look at Jackson hungrily. **

**"Connor...are...are you alright?"**

**Clawd asks as I snap out of it.**

**I shake my head and my eyes return from being deep, blood, red to their usual greenish-blue color. I look at Clawd and Deuce. Deuce is nervously glancing at Jackson and Clawd's leg muscles have tensed up as if he were ready to run up and pin me to the wall, which I was fine with because I would never be able to live with myself if I hurt an innocent Normie. Forget one that I considered one of my friends.**

**I also notice I've gotten uncomfortably close to Jackson, who is pressed against the back wall of Clawd's room. My fangs have poked out of my gums and I was baring them in a vicious grin, I can also hear his heart beat incredibly fast. After I retract my fangs, I decide to answer. **

**"Yeah...yeah I'm fine dude...I haven't eaten in a while...and I feel pretty sick so I think I should go home early. Sorry for...doing that Jackson"**

**Jackson simply gulped and nodded slowly he held out his hand and I shook it.**

**"No hard feelings, but in all honesty I don't want to fall asleep with a hungry vampire around..." **

**"I'll let myself out." I walked out of the room and closed the door quietly behind me.**

**Gil seemed to be really into that movie for some reason, Duece wasn't really watching, Clawd hated it almost as much as me, and Jackson was laughing on the inside the whole time, the cheeky bastard. I smile as I realize my friends didn't get mad at my little 'episode', I have true friends.**

**As I get down to the end of the hallway and am about to open the front door to leave, I hear one of the doors close and I turn around and see the girl from before.**

**"Oh hi, what uhhhh what are you doing?" **

**"I'm heading home, what about you?"**

**"Same, where do live? I'll walk you home if you want." I didn't just offer to do that because I wanted to get to know this girl. Ever since I moved in with my uncle, he's taught me 3 things I've always remembered 1. Never take anything for granted because you never know when you might lose it, 2. The only thing as good as fresh blood, is a glass of fine red wine, and 3. Always behave like a gentlemen when your with a lady, no exceptions.**

**I saw her blush when I asked, which I thought looked adorable. She probably thought I couldn't tell because the house was pitch black in the hallway, but I could see her clear as day. **

**"That'd be nice thank you, umm..."**

**"Connor Produltiones, but you can call me Connor. What's your name?"**

**"My name is Twyla, It's nice to meet you Connor."**

**"Good to meet you too, you have a very beautiful name, almost as beautiful as you." I notice her blushing and then I realize I said that last bit out loud. "Aww...hell I-I didn't mean to say that! wait I mean I meant it but I didn't want you to hear it. I mean...*sigh* shall we go."**

**Twyla is still blushing a little bit but stifles a laugh which makes me smile.**

**"It's ok Connor, your not TOO bad looking either. Yeah let's go."**

**Twyla walks over to the door as I hold it open for her and let her outside into the crisp October night. **

**We start walking with each other toward the direction I came from.**

**"Where is it you say you live?" **

**"A cabin in the middle of the pine Forrest." **

**"Really? That sounds vaguely similar to my house! How do I not know you if we live together?"**

**That caused her to laugh, which filled me with joy for some reason.**

**"Seriously though I know you know how to get there but I don't where is it and what does it look like?"**

**"Ok it looks just like any other log cabin, it's to the west of here surrounded by pine trees."**

**"So do you live their alone? It seems like it would get pretty lonely if you do." **

**"No I live with my dad."**

**"Ok, so what he's the boogie man?" I say half joking.**

**She stops walking and looks at me with a puzzled expression.**

**"Who's that? My dad is definitely not a boogie monster, and he isn't named 'Boogie Man' **

**"How-" **

**"I was adopted by my dad and I don't know anything about my biological parents. I don't care though, he takes good care of me and I love him."**

**"Yeah I know what you mean, my parents died when I was little and my uncle has raised me since."**

**She got real quiet and started walking again, only more slowly.**

**"I'm sorry Connor...if you don't mind me asking...how old were you when they died?" **

**"Unless you killed them, I see no reason for you to apologize" I smile at her. "Well my uncle told me I was 2 when they died, so uhhhh...I guess I was 2."**

**"So you don't know your parents either huh? How old are you now?"**

**I think for a moment "Biologically? Or do you want my actual age?"**

**"Both." She replies smiling and looking at me with genuine interest. I don't know why she's interested, I'm pretty boring... **

**"Well biologically I'm 17 in human years, but technically I'm...a thowsansenfitty years old." **

**"Stop mumbling I couldn't understand you!" She says laughing.**

**"You don't want to know how old I am."**

**"Yes I do! C'mon tell me! Please?"**

**Twyla uses puppy eyes, it's super effective! My will crumbles when I see those big purple puppy dog eyes, I still can't figure out how she does this to me, but it makes me feel...happy, like I could fight off the entire world if she was with me.**

**"Alright, alright here it is...I've walked the Earth for one thousand seven hundred fifty years."**

**"Hmm I don't know why you weren't telling me you are definitely NOT the oldest monster I've ever met. Besides you don't look a day over a thousand." **

**Now it was my turn to laugh.**

**"So how much further is your house?" We had been walking through the forest for a while now.**

**"It's just over this ridge, I can walk from here." **

**"Ok, I just have one quick question."**

**"And what might that be?" **

**I pretended to pat all my pockets as if looking for something.**

**"I seemed to have lost my phone number on the way here...could I borrow yours...?" I don't know why I said that, and I'm still confused as to why I'm so nervous saying it**

***HeHeHe* "Yes you can have my number after all you did protect me from the oh so scary leaves" **

**"Hey leaves can be very dangerous if thrown hard enough! I once killed someone with a leaf you know."**

**"Oh really?" **

**"No, *HeHe* here's my phone."**

**She takes my phone and programs her number into it and does the same with mine to hers. **

**"Goodnight Twyla."**

**"Goodnight Connor." **

**She teleports away with a small *pop* and reappears on the porch of the cabin, now that she's home I start heading back to my uncles house. I'll probably be grounded for cutting it so close to the sun, but it was worth it. **

***pop* I turn around and Twyla runs up and kisses me on the cheek and begins to whisper in my ear.**

**"Thanks for walking me home, I had a lot of fun."**

**"It was my pleasure, I had fun too."**

**She smiles at me and teleports away with that pop sound again.**

**I begin to walk home again and plan on contacting Twyla, after eat, and sleep first. **

**I arrive at my uncle's house. It's no mansion, but it's not small by any stretch of the word, my uncle is pretty wealthy.**

**I first get the feeling something is wrong when I go to unlock the door and I don't need to because its already been unlocked.**

**I open the door and look around the house spacey house. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. The kitchen straight ahead is still clean, the stair cases leading up to the balcony are still intact. I walk into the living room and see a red stain on the carpet, than I see a figure step out of the shadows.**

**Sanguine smiled.**

**"Home so early Connor?"**

**AN: BUM BUM BUUUUMMMM! I know you probably hate me for ending there. Ok since this was the first REAL chapter with Twyla I decided to foreSHADOW (get it Twyla? shadows? foreshadow? I'm so funny XD) a lot more stuff. In order to make this interesting ill let you decide what is foreshadowing and what isn't. Here's the hint for Connors last name: when in Rome SPEAK as the romans do. Remember imaginary cookies are on the line! Also someone please come up with a ship name for Twyla and Connor (to be used in ANs, you will receive credit.) the best I've come up with is Twylor and Conla. "_"**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry everything was bold in that last chapter! I'm trying new methods of getting these uploaded, without me having to copy them because when I do that I change so much stuff that it turns out completely different, which isn't always good. Honestly I see this story a the entrance, interior and exit if a tunnel. Right now were not in the tunnel yet and want to get in it already! That's where all the good bits are, where its nice and DARK. Than the end where it's light again. Except its a long tunnel and is darker outside now.**

"Oh hello uncle. (AN did you honestly think I would do that to Twyla this earlier in the story?) Yes I'm back earlier than expected, I had an...incident with one of my friends. He's human, well half human anyway, and I uhh lost control and might have tried to...eat...him...Guine whats this stain?" (Like Gwin)

"Oh it's just a damn waste of good wine my boy." He stops smiling at me and moves too fast for even me to notice. When I blink he's standing a few inches from my face scolding me, like he would do when I was little and left bite marks on his good chair.

"Ok why are you looking at me like that?" That may have intimidated me when I was 500 but not anymore.

"Do you have any IDEA how close you were to getting caught in the sun? You could have been killed! I can understand you leaving your friend's house when you did, but what was so important that you walked 3 miles out of the way to home?"

"How did you know when I was leaving?"

He's still looking at me sternly but his tone has softened quite a bit. "We went over this already the bond? Now answer my question."

Oh right, the soul bond. Let me explain, the organization uncle Guine works for (I assume its some kind of detective agency, but he won't tell me.) has everyone working in pairs, so to complete tasks more easily, or so he tells me, they are bonded to work in better sync. He had him and I bonded so he could keep tabs on me. Almost like GPS in my cell phone, which I'm sure he also has to keep tabs on me.

*snap *snap "Boy! pay attention when Someone older than you is talking. Now tell why it took so long to come home."

"Oh right." Should I make up a lie? I don't want another lecture on how to be a gentlemen. Or worse a sex talk.

"Don't even think about lying to me. I can tell even without this bond."

"There was this girl, my friend's sister's guest. Her name is Twyla and I offered to walk her home, like YOU taught me to. She said yes and I did just that. Than I sprinted home."

He stopped scowling walked over and put his hands on my shoulders.

"I'm proud of you my boy. But next time be more careful. Your the only family I have left. Now-" he turned around and started pacing around the room, careful to avoid the wine stain on the carpet (AN yes it really is a wine stain, and Sanguine really is Connor's uncle and legal guardian)

He also begins gesturing with his hands, it's an odd little habit he has.

"-Its clear to me that if your willing to risk your own well being to ensure this girl got home safely, that you must REALLY like her. Like REALLY REALLY like her. So now were going to have a talk. You see Connor when a girl and a boy like each other very much..."

From the tone of his voice I can tell this is my punishment. Oh merciful sun kill me now!

One sex talk later...

"...and that's how the birthing process works, any questions?" He says with rather cheekily.

I glare daggers at him "No. I'm gonna go TRY to get some sleep but I doubt that'll happen."

"Well have fun, you'll have the house to yourself for a while, they need me at work. I trust you, so if your with your girlfriend-"

"I never said she was my girlfriend."

"-and 'the mood hits' just promise me you'll use protection."

"Good. Bye."

"Goodbye, ill be back as soon as I can alright?"

"Right." He walks into the main hall, grabs his cloak and heads out to his black sedan to head to work.

After I eat, I head up to my room. When I walk in I see its still a mess of papers and dirty clothes.

My bed is still unmade and my Phoenix hound, Blackjack is asleep in it.

Phoenix hounds are just like hell hounds except, like a Phoenix, they die and are reborn from their old ashes.

He just recently 'died', so he's still puppy sized. I named him Blackjack because his fur is black and Guine won him for me in a game of blackjack when I was little. He hops between dog breeds over time but he usually appears as a big dog. This time he's a German Shepard, with pitch black fur, dark blue eyes, and a mane of deep blue flames running down his back. They don't burn anything unless he wants them to though.

Blackjack notices me enter looks at me, cocks his head and goes back to sleep in my warm comfy bed.

I decide not to disturb him and fall into a near lifeless state on the floor.

My sleep, if you could even call it that, is always the same. Restless. Every night that I can remember I've had the same nightmare.

_I wake up in a large room, and everyone I care about is there. Duece, Clawd, Jackson, Clawdeen, Howleen, Draculaura, Frankie, Scarah, Gil, Lagoona, Sanguine, and the newest arrival, Twyla are all there, talking amongst themselves._

_Like every night (AN: Day?) I my throat feels like its been filled with cement, so I can't yell to warn them about what happens next._

_I see masked figures creep out of the shadows, one for each of my friends. I struggle to move. I struggle to yell, to warn them about the figures. But I can't. I. Can't. Save. Them._

_Then the figures force my friends to their knees and walk in front of them each one of them pulls off their mask simultaneously._

_They are all me._

_Each one of me pulls out a gun from there jackets._

_I hear the click of 12 hammers being pulled back._

_I close my eyes and ready my self for what comes next. A volley of gunshots._

_I open my eyes again and all my friends are staring at me, their heads and faces mutilated and disfigured._

_They all speak with one, satanic voice._

_"Why Connor? Why did you kill us?"_

_Twyla steps forward, but she speaks alone, and instead sounds sad, almost heartbroken._

_"Why did you kill me?"_

_I blink away my tears and the scene shifts to a bleak vision of the future. The sky is dark and red. There are storm clouds flashing thosands of times per second lighting up the sky._

_Oddly enough, I can still see the sun but I'm not dead. Yet._

_I begin to cough violently, so much that I cough up a pool of blood._

_The blood begins to vibrate, as if something large were stomping around nearby. Finally it rises and makes the shape of a person. The blood falls once again to the ground, revealing yet another copy of me. Except this time, my eyes are bright red, my hands end in 3 inch talons, and there are shadows writhing and twisting all over my body. The only thing you can make it through the shadows are my eyes, teeth and razor sharp fangs, which have conformed into a wicked grin. The 'anti-Connor' as ive taken to calling him, cocked his head to the side still grinning at me and grabbed my throat and squeezed_

_I don't need to breath, but crushing my throat and neck would kill me,_

_He doesn't seem to care as he slowly lifts his hand up to the sun._

_He flexes his fingers and begins to stream dark energy toward it. As soon as the stream hits, the sun turns from blinding white, to a writhing swirling mass of red and black shadows plunging the world into near total darkness._

_Anti-Connor returns his attention to me still in his grasp. "You created this world. You created me." He looks at his left hand, as if studying it._

_"You. Killed. Her."_

_At that moment he thrust his left hand into my chest and pulled out my unbeating heart. He ate my heart, then tossed me over the side of a cliff. The ground comes at me at normal speed and as I'm about to smack into the pavement below..._

I wake up in a cold sweat and the first thing I notice is Blackjack has his chin on my chest and he's whimpering.

"Hey buddy I'm ok, just another nightmare (AN daymare?) but I'm ok." I stroke the crest of flame on his back and scratch his ears until he's calmed down.

I look at the clock, it's 7:23 PM the next night. Relatively early for monsters to be up, but like I said I never sleep well.

"Hey boy? Do you want breakfast? Hmm? Do you want Breakfast?"

"AaaRUFF RUFF Aruff!" Blackjack begins running circles around my legs.

As I'm about to leave the room I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket, it's a text from Twyla:

'Hey u awake?'

'Yes, are you?' :p

'Ha ha. how did you sleep?'

Not well. I never do.

'Bad dream? :( '

'Yeah, but hey nothin you can do about. :/ '

'Well the reason I'm texting you is my dad seems to think were dating now, and wants to meet you. He wants you to have breakfast with us, and he doesn't know anything about you, other than your name. He also made it clear if you didn't come, we can't speak anymore. :( '

'Ill be right over, my uncle seems to think the same thing about us XD, see you soon.'

'If you hurry I might be able to take care of your nightmare problem :), and get a snack too! :D'

'K ill hurry, is there anything I should know about your dad?'

'Umm...he's kind of famous...?'

'You need to be more specific Twy. Who is he?'

'Sorry...'

I was tired of texting back and forth so I just decided to call her

"Why are you calling me?"

"My fingers are tired from texting, I don't do it that much. So just tell me who your dad is, also don't be sorry it's kind of adorable when you aren't specific."

"Aww! Your sweet, thank you! Ok...uhh...my dad is...Slenderman."

My mouth hangs open for a second.

"Your dad...is...Slenderman...THE Slenderman? The Halloween LEGEND Slenderman?"

"Well he's just dad to me, but yes, he is. But he doesn't like it when people bug him about his old job, so when you get over here don't go all fanboy on him! You need to promise to me."

"Ok I'm out the door, I promise I won't embarrass you, and ill be on my best behavior."

"Ok bye, my leaf killer."

"Bye.'

...Did she just say I was her leaf killer?

I must have misheard her, either way though, that nightmare told me something about myself I hadn't figured out until now.

I'm pretty sure I love Twyla.

**AN: obvious crush is obvious. Anyway, leave a review on how I am doing. This is the first chapter with a dark section, so next chapter will be mostly fluff I think. Sorry if I ruined the story for anyone when I made Slenderman Twyla's adoptive father.**

**Whenever I think of the boogie man I picture Boogie from 'grim adventures of billy and Mandy' or Boogie man from 'nightmare before Christmas'. Twyla does not resemble a whiny booger or a burlap sack, so adoption for her!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I do not own Monster high, slender man or Jack Skellington (TNBC fans don't get too excited, he is just on a shirt.) sorry if this is shorter than the last few, not sure how long ill make this one, but I want to get through this chapter so SOMEBODY in the story can get there ass kicked. Honestly I don't care who, just as long as it ain't Twyla.**

Connor's POV

As I get to the end of the driveway I realize I didn't feed Blackjack, out of excitement of seeing Twyla.

I open the door and get a look from Blackjack that would probably make a grown man wet himself.

Blackjack's highlight of every day is when he gets to eat, so me telling him I would feed him, then not doing it must have REALLY pissed him off.

"Sorry buddy, *HeHe* guess I got a little excited there."

The next look he gave me, from what I could gather, must have meant 'SHUT UP AND FEED ME ALREADY!' So I walked over to the fridge pulled out one of the good cuts of meat, usually reserved for me and Sanguine, and tossed it to him. He happily scarfed it down then trotted off. Probably for a nap. On MY bed.

I just sigh to myself and decide to stop screwing around and just head over already.

The ugly grey storm clouds began a downpour of rain at the exact moment I stepped out of the door.

Great, I'm going to be soaked by the time I get there.

Long story short, the faster you run in the rain the wetter you get.

I remembered where Twyla lived and ran, or should I say swam there in 5 minutes.

As I rang the doorbell I felt a knot start to form in my stomach, which disappeared completely when Twyla answered the door and Hugged me.

I feel warm in her embrace despite being soaked with water, which she doesn't realize until we stop hugging and the her clothes are wet. She's wearing a black Jack Skellington T-shirt and and blue jeans.

"Sorry I got you wet, it was raining and I was late, and I didn't bring my umbrella, and-"

"Connor, calm down its ok! Are you that nervous about meeting my dad?"

I think for a moment. "No, I guess I just thought you would be mad for me getting you wet."

She laughed "I'm not mad. I'm really glad to see you. But unlike you I am actually cold so let's go inside and ill get us some towels."

"Ok". She heads in, but I leave my black combat boots outside before I head inside because they're covered in mud.

"Here you go, dry yourself off."

Twyla tosses me a towel and I begin to dry my clothes to the best of my ability. The only thing that required more than a quick wipe down, were my jeans because my leather jacket is water proof. Apparently Sanguine got it for me from a tailor in Dublin. The man had an odd name, I think it was something along the lines of 'Ghastly Bespoke' (AN: I do not own Ghastly Bespoke) but I'm not sure.

"Thanks, so what's for breakfast?"

We start walking down the main hallway, past 2 sets of stairs to the kitchen.

"Well you and I are having toast with bacon and eggs, dad isn't eating due to not having a mouth."

"...Right so does your dad know we're not ACTUALLY dating?" I mentally kicked myself for saying that because Twyla got a look of hurt on her face. It was there and gone in a flash but I definitely noticed it.

"Well, he doesn't know...but I was wondering...if you...could...ummm..."

"I'll pretend to be your boyfriend, but only for you. Now if you don't mind me asking, why do you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend?"

"Hmm? Oh dad has been trying to get me to go out with this guy named Cade. He acts like a nice guy in front of my dad, but he can't take a hint that I DON'T want to date him."

"When does he spend time with you and your dad?" I ask a little hastily.

She blushes and begins to rub her arm, which is adorable.

"Dad kind of...walks me to school but its only so he knows I'm safe! Cade walks with us and kisses up to my dad." She says Cade's name in disgust, and he sounds kind of like a douche.

"So you want your dad to think you have a boyfriend so he'll stop pestering you? That makes sense, but I'm also guessing you want him to like me so he won't force us to 'break up'." I use over exaggerated air quotes around the last two words.

"That's right, can you do this for me?" She sticks out her lower lip and gives me those big puppy dog eyes.

"I would have done it even if you didn't do that cute little expression, but that kind of sealed the deal right there."

She hugs me again "Thank you! This means a lot to me."

"No problem, now lets go eat I'm starving." I offered her my arm for show, which she took. It feels good to have her close to me.

We walked into the kitchen. Straight ahead there was a table, to the left was a fridge, along with cabinets and a stove which had 2 skillets frying bacon and eggs. Slenderman was rifling through drawers and cabinets with his hands and 3 tentacles protruding from his black suit.

"Damn it where IS that spatula..."

"Dad, it's in your hand..." He turned around and looked at us and then the spatula. He started moving the eggs around in the skillet.

"Thank you dear, I assume this is the young man that escorted you home?"

I took this opportunity to speak up, I didn't move my arm and Twyla still had her head on my shoulder. "It's good to meet you Mr. Slenderman."

"Forgive me for not shaking your hand I'm a little busy at the moment, and no one has called me that in ages. My name is Samuel but please, call me SIR."

"Well it's good to meet you Mister Sir. I'm Connor." Samuel chuckled and brought 2 plates with bacon and eggs over to the table.

"Well my dear I see you picked a good one."

Twyla pats my arm "I did."

"Young man, it is a rare to find someone with both respect, and a good sense of humor."

I shake his hand, remembering to make eye contact. Wait does he have eyes? Crap I'm staring aren't I? Did I say that out loud?

"Yes I do have eyes, you are staring and you did say it out loud. Don't worry everyone makes mistakes. It's part of growing up."

As I open my mouth to speak, his phone rings, playing his theme song. Only a rather terrifying remix, that didn't rhyme or flow well but was disturbing nonetheless. Most likely aimed at me, or people like me.

_Slenderman, Slenderman, if you sleep with my daughter you'll lose your hands-_

"Excuse me I must take this." He walked into the other room where he thought Twyla and I couldn't hear him, but Vampire hearing is both a blessing and a curse.

"Connor can we eat? I'm pretty hungry."

"Hmm? Oh sure." As I eat I hear the conversation on Samuel's phone. The man he's talking to sounds worried about something. I hear Samuel speak, and his voice his hushed and nervous.

"Are you sure?"

"One hundred percent sir, the immortals are making there move."

"Damn it all. Ill be right in, don't do anything hasty. Goodbye."

"Yes sir, goodbye."

I heard him walk into the kitchen, and I just pretended I didn't hear anything.

"Twyla dear, I'm going away on business for I don't know how long. Ill be back as soon as I can though."

Twyla smiles at him "Ill be fine dad. I can take care of myself just fine, besides Ill have a vampire here too."

"Which brings us to our next order of business" he turns to me with his hands clasped behind his back. "Connor I hope you paid attention to my ringtone, because if you even think about sleeping with my daughter you'll lose more than your hands. And they won't grow back."

Twyla blushes a deep crimson. "Dad! What the he-" I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Message received sir."

"Good man. Other than that I would like you to look after my daughter. She can take care of herself but I would prefer if there was someone looking after her." I think back to his phone call, he must have been expecting trouble.

"Ill make sure she's safe before I leave sir."

"Bye dad. Love you."

"Goodbye dear, daddy loves you."

He teleported away leaving Twyla and I alone.

"So...I was uhh wondering...do you want to maybe...do something..?"

I ask nervously rubbing the back of my neck. She gets up and dumps our dishes in the sink.

"Sure, what did you have in mind?"

"Well...do you want me to take you anywhere today?"

"No. I'd rather just stay home and watch movies or something to be honest."

"Thats sounds perfect. I'm going to run over to my house and grab some movies. While I'm gone get some of yours out alright?"

She nodded and I headed back to Sanguin's house to get my favorite movies.

I opened the door to the house and stepped in, leaving my boots on the rug.

I headed up the stairs and to the left into the library and through another door in the back to Guin's study where all the DVDs and Blu Ray discs were.

I looked around the room which had 2 bookshelves in the back. To the right of the shelves was a door which lead to Sanguin's bedroom, and to the left was a door which was ALWAYS locked.

Guin has never told me what was in there and has always told me to never even try to go in there. I've tried to pick the lock on numerous occasions but my labors never yielded any reward. The door must have been enchanted so only the right key, which he kept on his person at all times no doubt, would open said door. I've never been skilled in magic, despite being a vampire so I've never even CONSIDERED trying to break the enchantment.

I walk over to the cabinet next to the door I entered through and skimmed through the collection and picked out my favorites.

I look over the ones I picked counting them off in my head.

'Lets see here.' Back to the future, V for Vendetta, Gran Torino, Pulp Fiction, Star Wars, and a few others.

Just for kicks, I try the locked door. Surprise! Still locked.

I head downstairs and two thoughts enter my mind. I should probably let Blackjack get some exercise, he can hunt in the woods and he'll come back when he's good and ready. The other thought is of the phone call Samuel got on his phone and how he seemed worried. He also didn't seem like he wanted to leave Twyla unprotected.

I have the same fear, call it paranoia or call it being cautious. I don't really care to be perfectly honest.

I let Blackjack out and open the doggy door in the back. Then I head into the basement which houses my favorite room in the entire house. Guin's armory.

The dimly lit room, or should I say hall way, is lined with ridiculous amounts of weapons and armor from throughout history.

Guin has never stated how old he is but he must be absolutely ancient. He collected every armament in this room himself throughout his life. There is at least one item from every major empire or civilization that has existed.

The walls are lined with sabers, daggers, helmets, breast plates, gauntlets, swords, axes, shields, maces, a few firearms, and even a small handful of custom built weapons. It would make even the toughest war monger or historian cry with joy.

I've trained with most of them but I grab my favorite item, a steel dagger with a leaf style blade about 15 inches long With a blue wrapped grip that belonged to me.

As I'm strapping the dagger to my back, I feel my phone vibrate, no doubt Twyla. I check my phone, and sure enough.

"Yes?"

"You done yet?"

"Yeah, I'll be over soon. Did you find some movies?"

"Yes."

"Do any of them include vampires, vampire hunters, or 'vampires' that sparkle?"

"Umm...nope not one."

"Ok we're still friends, be right over. I just need to grab one more thing."

"What would that be?"

"Blood. With me alone I've got AT LEAST twenty four hours of movies, I'm not sure i can go that long without some nourishment."

"Ok, that makes since. I wouldn't want you to get sick or something."

"Thanks. Ill be over soon. 10 minutes tops."

"Ok bye."

"Goodbye."

I head into the 'wine cellar' in the next room. The far wall is lined with bottles of, you guessed it, wine. But all the bottles with red corks are filled with blood. There are quite a few of those. I stuff one into my bag and head out the door.

There's still an overcast of grey storm clouds but it stopped raining

some time ago. I walk up to the door and knock on it for the second time tonight.

"Hey Connor are you done?" Twyla has her left hand on the door and her right hand on her hip.

"Yes, sorry I took so long. I had to put out my dog, pick out the movies, get some blood and-then I came over here." I didn't tell her about the dagger because I didn't want to frighten her. After all it was probably nothing. I walk in and she closes the door behind me. She squints her lilac eyes at me.

"Is that all? You sounded like you were going to say something else."

"No...I'm pretty sure I wasn't going to say anything else." I rub the back of my neck to check if the dagger was still strapped to my back, which it was.

She just rolls her eyes "you are a terrible liar, you know that? Come on were watching the movies in the basement."

"So what do you want to watch first?" I'm sitting on the couch in front of the flat screen in Twyla's basement. Twyla is sitting next to me looking through my movies. She holds up one of them.

"What's this one about?"

I can't hold back the shock on my face. "You've never even heard of Star Wars?"

"What? Am I supposed to know what it is?"

"No I guess not...but this...this is a crime Twyla! I've already decided we're watching this first."

"Ok, what's it about?"

"I can not do it justice with mere words. You must watch it."

"That's fine with me. Go put it in while I grab a blanket." She gets up and walks into the other room, while I start it up. I hit play as she walks in and then I sit down.

Then something unexpected happens. I hear Twyla's heart beat faster and she curls up next to me.

I hear it slow down when I put my arm around her and pull her closer and she puts her head on my shoulder. Is it possible she has feelings for me? Or is she just attaching herself to me because her dad asked me to protect her? I don't really care because if I had a pulse, it would be through the roof right now.

**AN: sorry this one took longer guys. I would like to let everyone know it was alanvaladez's idea to have them watch Star Wars. I hope this was fluffy enough for you guys, I was trying to get used to Twyla and Connor conversing and interacting.**


	6. Chapter 6: Sht gets real

**AN: So from now on, don't expect an update more than once a week. Lets make a game of this, name as many movies I quote in this chapter as you can.**

**Connor's POV**

Twyla drifted off to sleep about an hour ago. As I feel myself succumbing to sleep, I play back a bunch of quotes from the movies in my head before I'm lulled by her steady heartbeat.

"People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people."

"No. I, am your father."

"First rule of fight club. Do not talk about fight club."

"I want to play a game."

"So you need to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well do ya punk?"

"My precious..."

"THIS IS SPARTA!"

_I wake up in a room. Everyone I know is there. I don't even try to talk. This time, I just let it happen. I see everyone laughing and having a good time. I see Twyla. She's looks absolutely breathtaking in the subtle light of the room. She's chatting and laughing with Howleen. _

_When the figures come out I close my eyes and cover my ears. Wait a minute...I can move?_

_"I can talk?"_

_When the figures come out, there just normal waiters with trays of food._

_What the hell is going on?_

_I walk toward my friends, still confused. I'm greeted by all of my friends, who are still chatting amongst themselves, with drinks in their hands._

_As I look around I notice Twyla walking toward me. She takes my hands in hers and our heads start to move toward each other. As we're about to kiss..._

*********HeHeHeHe* "This is gonna look good on my blog." ****

****It's a female's voice I've never heard it before. They could be an intruder, so I keep my eyes shut, ready to move.****

"Yeah...whatever..."

That's Howleen's voice. She sounds rather disgruntled. Her and this stranger must have entered the house while Twyla and I were asleep.

"Oh shhhh! Twyla's waking up!"

My eyes shoot open as I feel Twyla stir on my chest. I see Howleen pouting with her arms crossed on her chest. Floating about a foot off the ground next to her is a female ghost that I've seen in the halls a couple times.

"Smile!" She yells snapping a picture of us with her phone, causing Twyla and I to jump.

"Wasgoinon?" Twyla woke up completely and her face was mere inches from mine. She must have shifted during the day because she was laying on top of me.

She was blushing a deep crimson and, to my displeasure, scrambled off of me still blushing.

She looks at Howleen and the ghost, still sitting next to me on the couch.

"Hey Howleen. Hi Spectra."

"Hey Twyla." The ghost girl, who's name was apparently Spectra, spoke. Her voice sounded other worldly. "Check my blog to see the newest couple at monster high!"

"Oh ok who is-" she blushed a shade I previously thought impossible to achieve.

"What is it?" I lean over and look at her phones screen. What I see causes my face to heat up considerably.

The headline read: 'Sorry to all the single ghouls at monster high! After only one week new Vampire student Connor Produltiones is off the market! Who's the lucky ghoul you ask? None other than my good friend Twyla herself!'

Below was a picture of Twyla curled up on top of me, I had my arms wrapped around her and I was resting my chin top of her head.

I decided to set things straight "Ummm...Spectra right?" She nodded "This is a little awkward...but me and Twyla aren't actually dating. In fact we just met a couple nights ago."

"Yeah we're JUST friends." Well that hurt.

Howleen's good ear perked up slightly. "Well what are you two sleeping together for?"

"We were watching movies, and she fell asleep next to me. That's how I remember it anyway." Then I remembered something. I got ACTUAL sleep, and my dream was wonderful. Well the last bit was, everything else just wasn't complete hell for me.

"Hey Twyla, I didn't have my nightmare...did you have something to do with that or was it a fluke?" I'm REALLY hungry so I walk over to my duffle bag and pull out the 'wine' bottle, yank the cork off with my teeth, and start to down the contents. As I'm doing this Twyla answers.

"Well, if I'm asleep and touching a person and they have a nightmare, I don't see it and I don't absorb the nightmare for nourishment. All that happens is a good dream is planted."

"So...your like a dream catcher for the person you're sleeping with?" She nods "Well this was the first day I've ever actually slept soundly. We should sleep together more often!"

I realize what I say and blush. I'm joined by Twyla. Spectra is floating on her back laughing and Howleen is pouting again.

"So..." Twyla begins awkwardly "why are you two here?" Spectra has stopped laughing and is typing away on her phone. Hopefully to disperse the rumor she just started.

Spectra speaks up, still typing. "You weren't picking up your phone, so we came over to tell you that everyone is eating at a fancy Italian restaurant tonight courtesy of Draculaura's dad!"

"That sounds fun, are we both invited? I don't want to go if Connor can't."I saw Howleen look at the ground a grit her teeth. What has gotten into her?

"Well we originally came over to tell you, but Clawd was trying to get a hold of Connor to tell him."

"I probably can't have 90 percent of the stuff on the menu on account of the garlic. What is the restaurant called?"

Howleen spoke up "It's a monster friendly place. They have an alternative menu for vampires."

"Oh...right." Now that I think about it, it is pretty silly that a vampire would pay for his daughter and all her friends to go to a place where she could get poisoned.

"So" Spectra spoke up.

"Are you two in?" Howleen finished.

"Well if its paid for, I sure as hell don't mind going." I got up to go recycle the now empty bottle I held. I really wish I was a master vampire already. I'm sick of needing so much blood just to function.

"I'll go too."

"Great! Ill text both of you when we're going to go!" Spectra started to float away.

"Wait! You don't have my number, and I just met you, like, five minutes ago." She floated back down smiling.

"Yes but I have everyone's number at Monster High. And I know all about you Connor."

"Oh Ok...wait...what do you know about me?"

"Well you started Monster High a week ago, you aren't currently dating anyone, you don't play sports at Monster High though you probably should because you look like you'd be good at them, your grades are dreadful, and you mostly keep to yourself." She smiled again and started typing on her phone.

"You know Spectra, that's kind of creepy. No I take that back, that is borderline stalking." She keeps typing away on her phone, Howleen and Twyla both giggle.

"Don't care, it's my job to keep track of everyone. See you guys later!"

Now I was left alone with Twyla and Howleen, neither of which I knew particularly well, although I met Howleen on my first day of school.

"Do you ghouls want to keep watching movies...?" I sit back down after I break the awkward silence. Twyla sits next to me, though she isn't as affectionate this time. Probably because Howleen was here.

"I'm fine with that" Howleen mutters as she plops down on the arm rest next to me.

"Hey Howleen? Umm...you know there's still room on the couch right...?"

"I know. I just wanted to sit next to you." I hear her heartbeat quicken ever so slightly, just like Twyla, except Howleen seems more confident.

"Mmmhmmm..." I get up and pick one of Twyla's movies at random.

I sit back down next to Twyla who, much to my enjoyment, scoots closer to me.

As the movie starts playing I realize it must be a Tim Burton movie, from the dark setting and stop motion, then the title is a dead giveaway. _The Corpse Bride._

"That was a nice movie." I pull oh my phone and check the time. Almost 2:00 in the morning.

"It's one of my favorites." Twyla pulls out her phone because she got a text message. She took a few seconds to read it. "Guys were meeting at the place with the others in half an hour."

"I'll head over there. See you guys in a bit."

"Bye Howleen."

"Bye Twyla. Bye Connor."

"See you later." Now Twyla and I are alone again.

"Do you think I need to change clothes?" I look down at my jacket and ragged jeans.

"Probably, it sounds like a place where you'll need a formal jacket or something."

I sigh. I know she's right but I don't feel like running over to Guin's house to get my blazer.

"Ok Ill go get a nicer jacket. Do you want to come with me?" She glanced at the clock and looked deep in thought for a moment.

"Sure Ill go with you. But first I need to put on a dress and maybe some makeup."

I move closer to her and study every tiny detail of her. What is she talking about? She looks beautiful! Add anything else and it would ruin her natural beauty.

"Umm...thanks... You know you said that out loud...right?"

"Whoops. Uhh... Sorry Twyla. I'm probably making you uncomfortable when I do that right?"

She smiles at me and hugs me tightly. I actually hug back this time taking in her sweet scent of strawberries.

"You're the sweetest boy I've ever met. Actually, it's the opposite, I love hearing you say things like that! But I still need a dress. Ill be right back, then we'll go over to your house and grab you a different jacket. Then we'll go to Howleen's house."

"Ok Ill be by the door waiting." We just stand there, locked in each others embrace. I whisper to her "you know well miss dinner if we don't stop hugging?"

"I know."

"So...maybe we should...go do our things so we won't miss dinner?"

She looks into my eyes and I look into hers. "Huh? Oh right..." She awkwardly lets go. I still hold her for a few seconds before I break the embrace. We both head upstairs, I wait by the door and wait for Twyla to get ready.

I've been standing by the door for about five minutes now. She's wonderful but she needs to hurry up or we'll be late.

I hear high heels coming down the stairs and I see her very gracefully...trip and fall off the stairs. She probably thought I didn't notice but she obviously did it on purpose. Nonetheless I sprint, slide on my left knee, and catch her. I pick her up and set her upright and get a good look at her dress.

It's a midnight blue, strapless dress that stops at about her knees. It also very subtly fades to purple toward the bottom of the skirt.

"You look absolutely stunning."

"Thank you! Oh and thanks for catching me."

"It was my pleasure. Say miss Twyla do you have plans tonight?" I say playfully.

She smiles and decides to humor me "Why, yes I do actually. I'm going out to dinner with some friends."

"Do you have a date to accompany you?"

She giggles showing her perfect teeth. "No I don't have a date. Connor are you trying to ask me something?"

I grin, happy with where this is going "Would you like for me to be your date for tonight?"

"Well that would be wonderful!"

"Great, I'll pick you up...hmmm...now." She laughs as I scoop her up, bridal style, and walk out the door where I begin to sprint to Guin's house. Not at my top speed, because that would make Twyla sick, which would ruin her night, which in turn would ruin my week. I enjoy carrying her, it gives me a sense of fulfillment, knowing I can easily protect her if I need to.

When we arrive at the house I gently set Twyla down and hold the door open for her to enter the house.

"I'm going to go get a blazer, can you wait here?"

"I'll be fine here, but you should hurry, were pushing it a little." I nod and head up the stairs and enter my room where I find Blackjack asleep on my bed again. His muzzle was covered in blood, and he had grown a lot while I was gone.

I open my closet and scan through the multiple pairs of jeans, leather jackets, and hoodies. Finally my yes land on a jet black blazer with blue buttons. I throw it on after I change into a plain black T-shirt and black dress pants. I walk downstairs, silently as usual, and sneak up behind Twyla. When I'm sure I know she's unaware of my presence, I pick her up again and begin running toward Clawd and Howleen's house.

"JESUS! You scared the crap out of me!"

I grin at her "I'm sorry I didn't think you were so scareable." She pouts and crosses her arms.

"I'm NOT easily scareable. You just startled me!"

"Sure, sure. And I'm the king of Switzerland."

She just sighs and pouts again.

"You're so cute when your pouty." I smile at her, and almost run into a tree.

"And your cute when you're all dressed up. You hate wearing dressy things don't you?"

"Yes."

**Restaurant, about 45 minutes later.**

Everyone that made an appearance in my dream(other than the monster within me) plus Spectra, is eating at one big table in the restaurant.

I'm sitting a cross from Twyla and Howleen is sitting next to me on my right, Clawd is to my left.

Twyla and I have been talking non stop since we got to the place. We mostly talked about our likes and dislikes. I told her I like Linkin Park, and that I have acrophobia. (AN:acrophobia is the fear of heights. Not to be confused with arachnophobia) apparently she's scared of public speaking. And Vacuums for some reason, I'll have to investigate that further.

"So..." I begin to speak as I'm citing my unseasoned uncooked steak. "How do your powers work exactly?"

"Well I suppose it's kind of like-" she's interrupted by a normie who has walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. He was a few inches taller than me, which is saying something because I'm pretty damn tall, he had light brown hair, and had a lustful grin plastered to his face. His heartbeat wasn't erratic in any way so he must go to Monster High and be accustomed to us, unlike most of his kind. From the five seconds I had Ben near him, I already hate him and that was before he opened his mouth.

"Hey sexy, how ya doin tonight? Hey I want to ask you something." I could tell Twyla was extremely uncomfortable from the physical contact and tried to squirm away from him, but he held her tightly.

Finally, after I had been grinding my teeth for five seconds straight, she spoke up. "What do you want Cade? I'm eating dinner with my friends."

"I just wanted to tell you that your my date for the Halloween dance, got it?" She looked panicked. If this asshole doesn't back off soon I am going to literally rip him apart. Yes I'm overprotective of people I care about. I would have a flashback of a similar experience but I'll save it for later.

"I...c-cant I uhhh..." She looked at me begging for help.

"You can't huh? That's bullshit."

Finally I had had enough. I jumped over the table, too quick for anyone but the wolves and Draculaura to detect, and stared into Cade's face.

"She can't go with you because I already asked her and she said yes."

He glances at her with an angry look on his face. She gives him a look that confirms what I just said.

"Bull. Shit." He growls and squeezes her shoulder tighter and I could tell he was hurting her, so I intervened. I grab the wrist holding Twyla, and twist it right to the point of breaking.

I notice everyone at our table is staring at me and Cade.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you that it's rude to grab a lady like that?" I practically spit in his face, my words filled with venom.

He jerks his wrist away and shoves past me exiting the building.

I turn around and everyone was looking at me. Some with fear.

"What?" I ask, still pissed off from Cade, my eyes were probably a dull red, and even that can be scary.

Draculaura was the first to speak "Connor, when you grabbed Cade something weird happened."

I was getting a little concerned now "What happened?"

"Well..." She began "no matter how angry or distraught they've been, I have never seen a vampire's eyes glow purple..."

"What?" I begin to panic again. That's only happened one other time, and then I almost killed Guin.

"Your eyes were glowing purple, and your pupils looked different. They were shaped like small pentagrams."

I look around the table and everyone silently confirmed it. This was not good. Guin says if I lose control again I'll more then likely end up killing someone who doesn't deserve it.

I walk over to Twyla and put my hand gently on her hurt shoulder. Partly to comfort her, and partly to see if she was hurt badly.

Everyone had gone back to their meals and she spoke to me. She seemed really released that I stepped in. "Thank you for doing that. That was really brave."

"Anytime, is your shoulder ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I just wish I wasn't so weak! I wish I could defend myself!"

"Hey calm down! I can teach you a few things next this weekend if you want?"

She looks at me with excitement "Really? You would do that? Oh thank you!" She gets up and hugs me tightly.

I Hug her back tightly "No problem. Oh and you don't have to go to the Halloween dance with me if you don't want to."

She backs up and looks at me with her head tilted to the side in a confused manor.

"Why? Going with you sounds great! Unless...you don't want to go with me..." She looks down at her feet slightly.

I tilt her chin up toward my eyes "I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't want to go with you." We smile at each other and embrace once more.

Clawd yells at us "Earth to lovebirds! Twyla your food is going to get cold and Connor if you don't finish that steak someone might accidentally cook it." We all laugh and Twyla and I sit down.

As I look at my food I notice something odd about my hands.

There were barely noticeable black shadows slowly being absorbed back into my palms. That was entirely too close.

**Location: unknown, POV: unknown**

I walk quickly through the dark halls of the Immortal's headquarters toward the Master's throne room.

I pass many of our initiates who salute me as I walk by but I don't return the salutes. My current task is much more important.

Finally I enter the throne room of the Master. In the center of the throne room there was a large throne believe it or not. On it sat an extremely intimidating master vampire of incredible stature, who was clad in black armor with blood red trimming. He spoke with a voice so powerful it could shatter mountains with merely a whisper.

"What do you want?"

"My lord..." I bow as low to the ground as possible "we have found a trace of his power. It flared on our monitors not ten minutes ago."

"What? Where is he?" He seemed as overjoyed as he could possibly get. So his emotion hasn't shifted much.

"He resides in America somewhere on the western coast. It will take time to track down exactly where."

"Prepare everyone for the search. I want him found as quickly as possible, but do it quietly. I don't want to reveal ourselves to the world just yet."

"As you wish my lord." I bow once more and hurry off to make the necessary arrangements. We will find Connor Produltiones. He can run all he wants but he can't escape the Shadow of the Immortals.

**AN: so sorry this took so long! Next chapter might take a while so be prepared. So I'm trying something new to make this more fun. I'm going to ask a question at the end of a few chapters and you answer it in a review! So we'll start with an easy one: what breed of dog does blackjack resemble? First person to answer gets a shout out next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: PLEASE READ! Ok so if you don't read my authors notes you should. I sometimes put important things in there. When I don't I write random nonsense. Anyway I wanted to apologize for the monster puns I'll be using from here on out. If your anything like me then the puns in the movies/webisodes drive you absolutely BAT SHIT CRAZY!...that is all...oh Connor wants me to shut up so he can narrate.**

**Monday the day after the dinner fiasco: Connor's POV**

I sigh to myself once more. I've been pacing for the past few hours working up the courage to call Guin and tell him what happened last night. Finally I just decide to man up and do it.

He picks up on the second ring "Sanguine Produltiones speaking. Who is this?"

"Hey Guin...it's uhh...it's Connor."

"Why are you calling me? Did something happen? Are you alright?" I could tell he was freaking out, I never call him.

"Don't worry I'm fine. I just wanted to tell you everything is okay here. Blackjack is fine, I'm getting plenty of blood,...oh and I almost lost control of...it...again."

"WHAT?! How did this happen? Did someone attack you? Did you hurt anyone?"

"No I didn't hurt anyone. And I said I ALMOST lost control. I got to where my eyes were purple, only this time my pupils looked like pentagrams according to my friends."

"Good, good. Although your pupils changing means it was closer to taking over and they were purple? Connor that's the final color. Be more careful. So tell me exactly what happened, leave no detail out."

"My friends and I went to a fancy restaurant for dinner. This guy named Cade, who wants to get in Twyla's pants, came over and told her she was going with him to the Halloween dance."

"So because he asked your crush on a date you used the curse, which very well could have killed everyone in a few square miles if you had let it."

"You didn't let me finish. He came over and was borderline sexually harassing her. He was talking to her like he owned her and he put his hand on her shoulder and wouldn't let go. She looked like she wanted me to do something so I told him I already asked her. I guess he didn't like that because he started to clench both his fists, He would have seriously hurt her if I hadn't grabbed him because he was extremely strong for a human."

"Good. Looks like you listened to SOMETHING I taught you..."

"I listen to a lot of things you say."

"Could have fooled me. Anyway I have to get back to work. I still don't know when I'll be home."

"Ok bye."

"Oh wait! If Twyla comes over remember to use protec-"

I end the call before he can finish. Besides his advice doesn't matter Twyla isn't that kind of girl. My phone rings again, speak of the devil.

"Hello?"

"Hey it's Twyla."

"Oh hey. Why are you calling me? Not that I don't enjoy talking to you or anything! I was just wondering."

*HeHe* "I know calm down! I was calling to see if it was okay if I came over Saturday for self defense training."

Oh right I promised her I would teach her. "Umm sure that's fine. What time did want to come over?"

"How does 9:00 sound?"

"That sounds good. Oh make sure you where something comfortable and that you don't mind getting dirty. I'll leave the door unlocked for you."

"Got it. Bye."

"Bye, lov- uhhh b-bye."

"What? We're you going to say something?"

"No..."

"You still suck at lying. Goodbye."

"Bye..."

**Saturday Connor's house close to 9:00 PM**

*clank* I sigh as another throwing knife clatters to the floor. Ive thrown about thirty and only two have stuck so far. I'm lousy at this but Guin says I need to work on my throwing knife skills.

I don't get any better and my mood is getting rather...unpleasant and I don't want to snap at Twyla so I stop for today; I'll leave the knives and clean those up later, we shouldn't be coming down to the armory much anyway.

I grab a bottle of blood and head upstairs when I hear the door open and my dream ghoul step inside. The blood is an older bottle so I could get food poisoning but it will taste a hell of a lot better.

"Greetings young grasshopper." I say smiling and showing my fangs.

She bows in a sarcastic manor "greetings Connor sensei."

"I've missed you...how come I don't see you at school except during lunch? I mean I hear your heartbeat in the school A LOT but I never SEE you."

"Well we have three classes together. I just stay in the shadows during the day...they conceal me to any eyes, even vampire eyes."

"Oh man that's cool! So it makes you like invisible?" She nods smiling. "What else can you do with shadows?"

"The three main things I can do are teleport in them, hide in them, and I can control them to manipulate objects."

"You can manipulate objects? Like what?"

She thinks for a moment "toss me that bottle." I oblige and the markings on her hands glow as tendrils of shadow catch the bottle and slowly hand it to me.

My mouth hangs open "that's amazing!"

"Glad you like it but can we start training?"

"Sure come with me outside."

"So if someone grabs you from behind like this..." I wrap my arm around her neck very loosely. "...then you bring your elbow back into their squishy bits."

"And by squishy bits you mean...?"

"Elbow their stomach or groin. It doesn't matter if their male or female, both spots will work."

"Good to know...anyway thanks for teaching me this stuff."

"Don't mention it. Would you like to spar to practice what I taught you for real?" She looks away and starts rubbing her shoulder.

"I-I don't know...I don't think that's a good idea...I mean your way faster than me..."

"I won't use my enhanced speed, and I want to see how you fight. And I WON'T hurt you. But you can knock me around all you want I'm pretty durable."

She begins to laugh lightly which causes me to grin. "Ok fine lets do this. On three?"

I nod "one...two..."

"THREE!" She runs at me with incredible speed and thrusts her palm toward my nose in an upward movement. I, of course, dodge it with ease and grab her arm behind her.

"Good first move. You should never punch the face with your fist because you'll do damage to yourself."

She brings her left elbow into my stomach. What she didn't realize was she hit my solar plexus, effectively taking me out. I may heal fast but pain is pain and I still have the weak points of an average human despite being a vampire.

I double over as the air is knocked out of my body. You're probably wondering why a someone who is technically a corpse would need to breathe and I would just tell you it's a force of habit to breathe manually.

*GASP* "ohhhhh...good-good match...you can really hit you know that?"

"Oh god! Are you okay!?" She kneels next to me. I like her fretting over me.

"I-I don't...don't..."

"Don't what?! Talk to me!"

"Come closer..." She obliges and her face is mere inches from mine. God I want to kiss her, to feel her soft lips against mine. Instead I flip her over and sit on top of her.

"I think I'm fine now...oh and I win."

"Oh you win? How? Last time I checked I crippled you for about thirty seconds." She flips me over and straddles my hips.

"Ok you still haven't won."

"How come?"

"You need to finish the fight, final blow, that thing you know?"

"Ok..." She brings her fist back and wraps it in shadows, something else I helped her with because it gives her punches more impact. It fucking hurts to get hit by her shadow punches though. I close my eyes as she moves it toward my face at in astonishing rate. I'm surprised when she kisses my forehead instead.

"Not that I'm complaining but...that wasn't much of a death blow."

"I'm not going to smash your face with my hand. Your face is too good looking to ruin." I smile when she blushes a deep crimson.

"Your adorable."

"She smiles and climbs off of me much to my displeasure. I didn't want her to leave so I decided to teach her more things. "Hey Twy?"

"Yes?

"Well now that we got practical stuff out of the way do you want to try something more showy?"

"Sure what did you have in mind?"

"Throwing knives! Come on follow me to the armory."

"You have an...armory?" I nod slowly as we're walking down the stairs "why?"

"I don't know. I guess my uncle just likes weapons."

"Hmmmm." I hear her utter as I lead her into the room with the pile of failed attempts at a bullseye.

"Just grab some and throw them at that plywood target over there."

"Aren't you going to teach me how to throw them?"

I chuckle "I'm probably the last person who should be teaching someone how to throw a knife...I suck at it."

"Oh ok." She hesitantly walks forward and grabs six knives. She backs up and stares at the target. Then she does something I wasn't expecting, she grabs four knives with her shadows and carries the other two in her hands.

"You know...maybe you should throw those one at a time just because its your first ti-" I'm interrupted by the sounds of six knives ALL hitting the bullseye at different angles. "How did you do that?!"

She just shrugs "I don't know. Why? Are you upset?"

"A little! I've been trying to get just one for three hundred years!"

"Guess I'm a natural."

"No joke. Well that's all, I can't think of anything else to teach you sorry."

"That's fine, I had fun. Oooh what time is it?"

I look at my watch but I hear my stomach growl first. "It's dinner time."

"Great! Do you mind if I cook something for us? I want to thank you."

"Sure I'm starving, and I can't cook anything. All I eat is raw steaks..."

She giggles, I love her laugh. "Alright great. Come show me what I have to work with. I'll cook something up and then we can eat dinner together and watch the sunrise outside."

I hiss and bare my fangs involuntarily at the idea of the sunrise. I blush afterwards because I didn't mean to.

"Did you...did you just hiss at me?" I nod sheepishly "I was only kidding about the sun. We can eat somewhere nice and dark, we'd both be more comfortable that way right?"

"Yeah your right...sorry for hissing at you. I didn't mean to I just did it instinctev-" I'm silenced by her finger on my lips.

"You talk too much. Come on."

"Ok kitchens this way."

* * *

><p>"Man you are one awesome cook!"<p>

"Aww your sweet, thank you!"

"Your welcome, I'll take care of the plates." I pick the plates up, completely cleaned of the taco casserole Twyla made, and dump them in the sink.

"So..." She begins "what do you want to do now?"

"Do you want to just listen to some music?"

"Sure, we can use your phone. What bands do you have?"

I think for a moment "I have Linkin Park, a few classic rock songs, Skillet, and a little bit of daft punk and a few others."

"Oooh I love Skillet! Lets listen to them."

"Ok I'll go get my earbuds, find a place you want to sit."

I come back to find she's chosen a chair. That only one of us could sit in. She sees me and gets up gesturing for me to sit down, which I do. I'm not surprised or uncomfortable in the slightest when she sits in my lap and snuggles up next to me. I hand her an earbud and play the music.

"Oh turn it up I this is my favorite song!" I do and recognize it immediately as 'Believe' by Skillet, good song.

The song ends and we burn through an entire Linkin Park album before the next song plays, and I know what it means.

"Ok I'm going to fall asleep now. If you leave before I wake up leave me a note or something."

She looks confused "how do you know your going to fall asleep?"

"I always fall asleep when I hear this song. I don't know why though." The song is 'A living tombstone's' remix of 'spooky scary skeletons'.

I feel my eye lids get heavy and my head droop down to the sound of the music and her heartbeat.

"Oh hey do you care if I eat your nightmare if you have it again? It means I'll see it but I could help to get rid of it."

I just grunt and rest my head on hers taking in her sweet scent of jasmine and lavender.

"Sweet dreams" is the last thing I hear.

**Twyla's POV**

I still don't understand how this song put him to sleep. It's a freaking techno song for crying out loud! Still...he looks so calm and peaceful when he's sleeping. And he's even cuter too. I can see his shadow light up with happiness when he sees me, I just wish he would make a move already, I've been flirting with him non stop and I'm getting a little annoyed. I won't tell him that though.

I'm still enjoying the music when I notice a few good dreams head toward his sleeping form but strangely they bounce off his shadow...like the shadow was swatting them away. I've never in my life see a shadow do that, it's as if it was alive which disturbed me. Then I notice the darkest, ugliest looking gray nightmare head toward him, this time his shadow seemed impatient and actually PULLED the nightmare in before I could absorb it. I could still see the nightmare if I wanted to, but the only way I could prevent him from having it was to wake him up. I feel like I'm invading his privacy but I look at the nightmare anyway.

_I'm in a large room, and I see myself and all my friends from monster high and only a few are missing. I see a tall lean man with black hair and beard that bears some resemblance to Connor. This must be his uncle. I also see Connor standing a little away from everyone else, not moving a muscle or talking._

_Everything seems peachy until a group of figures come out of the shadows and I see Connors shadow flash with confusion. The figures force everyone in the room, excluding Connor and 'the real me' (which is to say me) to their knees and pull out knives. What happens next fills me with shock and Connor with despair as the figures remove their masks, revealing them to be him, and begin slicing, cutting, and stabbing our friends to death._

_I feel my eyes fill up with tears because I know he's had to live with this every night for a long time. I can tell from the way he talked about it with me, and I couldn't help him._

_I see my doppelgänger walk toward him with gaping holes in her chest and face and sob about how he killed her. That was enough I'm tired of seeing him suffer, I care for him too much._

I leave the dream to find him sobbing in his sleep and my heart shatters to pieces seeing him like this.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry Twyla! I didn't m-mean to k-kill y-y-you!"

I shake him gently until he wakes up and hug him tightly to comfort him.

"Shhhhh shhhh. It's okay I'm here. I'm fine. We all are."

He looks around and hugs me. I love being wrapped in his strong arms. I wipe the tears streaming from his eyes away with a tissue.

"It was just a dream?" I nod still holding him while sitting on his lap. "You're okay...?"

"Yes I'm fine, what's the deal though? You told me during the week that you could always tell it was a dream?"

"I don't know...this time it felt so real. And usually the copies of me just shoot you in the heads! Ummm...sorry. Anyway I've never stabbed you and you have never sobbed in the dream."

"Hmmmmm...that's odd...well anyway it's all over. I'm here and I'm okay and I'll never leave you when you need me." I say hugging him again.

"Thank you. For everything."

"You're welcome. What do we do now?" He mutters something quietly and quickly and I didn't hear it. "What was that?"

He looked alarmed "uhhh...I said we should fake the couch...yeah..."

"Really? It sounded kind of like you said we should make o-"

"NOPE! I defiantly said we should fake the couch...*He* "

"Whatever you say crazy guy." I rest my head on his chest and put the ear bud in, Connor does the same.

When I'm sure he's asleep and isn't going to freak out again I whisper in a completely inaudible voice "I love you." Then I bury my head in his chest and drift off to sleep.

**POV unknown**

"My lord I'm afraid I'm the bearer of bad news."

"What is it?!...SPIT IT OUT YOU SPINELESS FOOL!"

"I'm afraid it will take a little longer than expected to find him sir!"

I order the room to be cleared as soon as I utter the last word and rush out the door. As I'm closing the door I see just what I was expecting. My lord is covered head to toe in writhing shadows.

And his eyes are glowing red with pentagrams for pupils. Surprisingly his eyes haven't turned purple. yet.

He's getting better with his anger management.

**AN: Review even if you hate it. I can't get better if you don't tell me I'm bad at writing. Oh and I haven't said this but I love all of my readers and appreciate you taking the time to read my story. Also Connor has written my bio so check it out. **


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: sorry but this is the last REALLY happy chapter for a little while but there's some kissing in this chapter.**

**Connor: really? I kiss Twyla?!**

**Me: hold your horses and tell the damn story...don't spoil it. God your a dick to the readers...don't give me that look! I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it!**

**Kay I'm done breaking the 4th wall sorry. Anywho here's chapter 8.**

**Connor's POV one week before the dance.**

Clawd, Duece, Jackson, Gil, and I have decided now would be a good time to go get suits for the Halloween dance. Bloodgood has made it very clear that it is a formal event, much to our displeasure.

As I try on the third suit today I grumble to no one in particular "God this sucks! Why is Bloodgood making us where suits? Why can't we do it like the normies and dress up as characters?"

I hear a murmur of agreement and then Clawd speaks up "I hear you man. It does indeed suck."

Gil spoke next "what would you dress up as Connor?"

I take a moment to think "Twyla and I were planning on being Joker and Harley Quinn. Then Bloodgood said it was a formal event and here I am.

"Wow couples costumes? That's kind of cheesy don't you think? I could never convince Cleo to do that..." I give Duece a funny look.

"Sounds like you want to wear them."

"Yes..."

Jackson speaks for the first time all day. "Isn't Joker like REALLY abusive to Harley?"

"Yeah. If I was Joker though and Twyla was Harley, I would never hurt her."

"I know. Hey I've never told you this but you're absolutely terrifying when someone messes with Twyla."

"I know I just love her so much!"

My last comment is followed by an uncomfortable silence. Finally Clawd speaks up.

"You WHAT?"

"I feel a connection to her but I don't think she feels the same way..."

They all start laughing, even Jackson.

"What?"

"Okay forgive my pun but you are as blind as a bat! Dude she definitely feels the same way! She has been flirting with you NON STOP since you met! And you two look at each other the same way Laura and I do. Or Duece and Cleo. Or Gil and Lagoona. Or Scarah and invis-"

"Ok I get it! Jesus...If you say so Clawd." I start to shake my head "guys...?" When I know I have their attention I continue "I've decided I'm going to tell her how I feel at the dance. I don't know how but I'm going to do it and I'm going to kiss her." They all looked at each other and started to slow clap sarcastically.

"Finally." Gil said shaking his head.

**Connor's POV**

It's the night of the dance and the monster equivalent of Christmas, Halloween. I'm heading through the halls toward the catacombs where the dance is being held. The reason I'm not with Twyla is because we decided to just meet at the dance, it just seemed easier then me carrying her for five miles.

Finally I get to one of the numerous entrances scattered throughout the school. It wasn't hard to find, I was following two gargoyles and I can hear the loud music playing. I head through the door down a winding set of heavily weathered stone stairs toward the sound of EDM blaring. Jackson, or rather Holt, volunteered to be the DJ for tonight.

I enter the large cavern and see hundreds of monsters and humans dancing together. Somehow they got a giant laser show going off in this huge place. Probably some sort of magic, but I couldn't say it's not my strong suit like I've told you.

I scan the crowd and listen for Twyla's heartbeat until I spot her a few hundred yards away dressed in a beautiful ball gown with her hair in a bun. She's standing with our friends I've dubbed 'the dream team' due to every one of them being brutally murdered in my brain every day. You can tell I really care about these people can't you? I do. I would die a slow painful death at the hands of the sun to save them. Especially her.

I sprint over careful not to run into anyone dancing and reveal myself to them by running up and picking up Twyla.

"AHHH! What the hell don't do that! You know I don't like it!"

I put her down "hey guys sorry I'm late. I got stuck in traffic."

"You mean you couldn't figure out how to tie your damn tie!" I hear Clawd yell.

"He's right." I say, sounding defeated which gets me a laugh. I finally get a good look at my date and my jaw drops. She is absolutely stunning. Her dress is a perfect blend of blue, black, and purple hues. The entire dress has a spider web pattern covering it and suddenly my suit and tie doesn't seem so great anymore.

Spectra speaks up "Close your mouth sweetie! You'll catch flies."

"Twyla...you look...you look...a-amazing..."

"Aww thank you. You look very handsome yourself. My god you actually wore a REAL suit? Prepare your winter coats because hell has frozen over."

"I'll pick you up again don't think I won't."

She laughs and hugs me. "Do you want to go dance Twyla?"

"Sure! I'd love to!" I wish that sentence was tweaked into something that sounded similar. Those are the three words I wish she would say to me. It's funny because I dreamt she told me she loved me after I had had my last episode with her but it seemed REALLY real.

I lead her out onto the designated dancing area and started to move to the beat. I wasn't good at dancing alone, I need a partner because I'm more of a slow/ballroom dancer. Luckily a slow song starts to play and I pull Twyla closer to me.

"I love this song." She says resting her head on my shoulder. We away to the beat as one. Well no time like the present I suppose.

"Twyla?"

She looks into my eyes "yes?"

"There's something I want to tell you."

Her smile widens and she looks excited "what is it?"

"I-" I'm interrupted by Holt screaming into a microphone on a stage where he was set up.

"Heath what the hell man? I'm gone for two minutes to go on a bathroom break and you play a slow song? Lets pump up the BEEEEEYAAATTT!" He turns on an adrenaline pumping dubstep song.

"Holt you fucking jackass..." I mutter under my breath. Call me no fun but I much prefer Jackson to Holt.

"Did you say something Connor?"

"What? Oh no sorry."

"Oh ok. What is it that you wanted to tell me?"

Now was not a good time to tell her. "Huh? Oh sorry I uh I forgot."

"Oh that's fine." It obviously wasn't fine with her. She started pouting.

"Hey turn that frown upside down. It kills me when you aren't smiling. How about I get us some punch?"

"Ok I'd like that."

"I thought you would, wait here."

I leave and walk around trying to find some punch. I finally do, at a crowded table lined with food. There are steaks, glasses of blood, finger foods, and the thing I'm after, punch. It seems like enough food to feed a few small armies. I'm pouring two cups for Twyla and I hear Howleen's heartbeat behind me. "Hey Howleen. I didn't see you with the others, why?"

"I was looking for you."

"Is that so?" She nods and smiles at me.

"How do I look?" She asks twirling for me. I won't lie she looks great, almost as good as Twyla does.

"You look very nice." I say smiling. I grab the punch and begin to walk toward Twyla. I thought Howleen had left but she's still standing there. She takes the drinks and sets them on the table. I give her a funny look, getting a little frustrated when she grabs my tie and starts dragging me to a secluded area.

"Howleen what the hell?" I say sounding surprisingly calm.

"I want to show you something. This way." She's still dragging me but I'm starting to follow on my own.

"Ok we're all alone...in the dark...what did you want to show me..?" I say getting slightly nervous.

"This."

* * *

><p><strong>Twyla's POV<strong>

* * *

><p>Where is he? He's been gone for like five minutes he shouldn't be taking so long. I'm going to look for him.<p>

After I look around for a while I spot him and Howleen disappearing behind a corner. I follow them and what I see destroys me and shatters my heart to a million, broken, shards. I see my best friend lip locked with the boy I love. And she knew about my feelings for Connor.

He notices me and breaks the kiss.

"Twyla, this is not what it looks like!"

I feel my anger begin to bubble over. "Really?! It looks like your fucking making out with my best friend!" I can't take this anymore so I storm off to a dark area and begin to sob. Spectra floats by and sits next to me.

"What's wrong sweetie?"

"I j-just s-s-saw Howleen and C-Connor k-kissing..." I begin to sob harder than ever before.

"Hey it's okay. There are plenty of other men out there. A few actually have hearts unlike Connor."

"I thought he had feelings for me!..."

"I did too sweetie. I did too." She holds me and I begin to cry some more into her transparent form.

* * *

><p><strong>Connor's POV right after Twyla stormed off<strong>

* * *

><p>"DAMN IT!" I yell slamming my fist into a stone wall leaving a substantial hole. And gaping, bleeding wound on my hand. I take a deep breath and think happy thoughts. My eyes are now only red with pentagrams instead of purple.<p>

"Howleen?"

"Y-yeah?"

"You wanna tell me what THE FUCK YOU JUST DID THAT FOR?!"

"I did that to see if you actually cared about her!"

"Come again?!"

"I kissed you to see if you kissed back. You didn't so I know you aren't just leading her along and won't hurt her. She wasn't supposed to see me do that I'm sorry!"

I begin to slowly clap "Bravo. Good. Fucking. Job. She saw everything! And now she HATES ME! AND IT'S YOUR FAULT!" I'm not surprised no one has come to see what the hell the screaming is for. The music is deafening.

She begins to look really scared of me. "Connor y-your hands..." I look down and my hands are cloaked in swirling red energy. That's something that's never happened before. And something tells me I shouldn't touch ANYTHING with my hands until I've calmed the fuck down. I do just that and the energy dissipates, leaving behind now healing burns, gashes, and blisters.

"Ok good. Now I know this seems bad but I can fix this. I'm going to talk to her. You get your ass up on stage and tell her how you feel. Now." She is like two thirds my height but she is one scary pup!

"Great but how do I know this will work?"

"Trust me. I know Twyla like she's my sister. She kind of is."

"Ok. I trust you."

She runs off and I walk slowly toward the stage trying to think of what I'm going to say. Should I just tell her bluntly? No. Should I be vague? No. Should I beg for forgiveness? I'm not much of a beggar. Then I know exactly what I'm going to do.

* * *

><p><strong>Twyla's POV<strong>

* * *

><p>"What do you want?" I practically spit at Howleen.<p>

"Ok look, one: I kissed him he didnt kiss me. I wanted to see if he was right for you. Two: he didn't kiss back. Three: he broke a wall after I did it because he thinks you hate him."

"What do you mean you wanted to see if he was right for me?"

"I thought that if I kissed him in seclusion and he didn't kiss back it would prove his affections for you. I though he was just using you for awhile but I know now, he's a good guy."

"You really expect me to believe that bullshit?" I try not to curse often so she knows I'm pissed.

"Just look up at the stage."

I do and I see Connor talking to Holt. They seem to be arguing back and forth for a while when Connor slips him a roll of cash.

He steps up to the microphone and clears his throat nervously. "Excuse me could I have everyone's attention?" Everyone is talking loudly. "He-hello could I please have your attention?" They still continue to talk. "YO WILL YOU ALL SHUT THE HELL UP FOR TWO DAMN MINUTES?!" That did the trick.

"Thank you! Now recently I hurt someone I didn't mean to. This person is very dear to me and I would like to sing her a song. I hear its one of her favorites. Sing along if you want. Twyla? If your there...I'm sorry...and if you haven't figured it out...this is for you..."

He nods to Holt who presses a few keys on a laptop and a song begins to play. It's Beleive by Skillet, my favorite song. Connor begins to sing.

"_I'm still trying to figure out_

_How to tell you I was wrong_

_I can't fill the emptiness inside_

_Since you've been gone!"_

Everyone is looking around. He's singing the lyrics perfectly.

"_So is it you or is it me?_

_I know I said things that I didn't mean_

_But you should've known me by now_

_You should've known me!"_

_"If you believed when I said_

_I'd be better off without you_

_Then you never really knew me at all!"_

_"If you believed when I said_

_That I wouldn't be thinking about you_

_You thought you knew the truth_

_But you're wrong!"_

_"You're all that I need_

_Just tell me that you still believe!"_

Some people have started singing along now.

_"I can't undo the things_

_That led us to this place_

_But I know there's something more_

_To us than our mistakes!"_

Everyone has started singing with him. I begin to run toward the stage.

"_So is it you or is it me?_

_I know I'm so blind when we don't agree!"_

_"But you should've known me by now_

_You should've known me!"_

_"If you believed when I said_

_I'd be better off without you_

_Then you never really knew me at all!"_

_"If you believed when I said_

_That I wouldn't be thinking about you_

_You thought you knew the truth_

_But you're wrong!"_

I stand next to him and he looks me in the eye sadly. He has genuine pain in his eyes. He really does care about me. God I'm an idiot.

"_You're all that I need_

_Just tell me that you still believe!"_

I smile and his pain disappears completely and he starts to dance as he sings, and he sings with a much happier undertone.

"_Is it you or is it me?_

_I know I said things that I didn't mean_

_You should've known me by now_

_You should've known me!"_

He points the microphone at the crowd of people clapping to the beat and stares into my eyes as they start to scream the lyrics.

_"If you believed when I said_

_I'd be better off without you_

_Then you never really knew me at all!"_

_"If you believed when I said_

_That I wouldn't be thinking about you_

_You thought you knew the truth_

_But you're wrong!"_

They stop singing and he quiets down his singing and says the final verse as if no one but him and I exist in the universe.

_"'Cause you're all that I want._

_Don't you even know me at all?_

_You're all that I need._

_Just tell me that you still believe."_

The song ends and I tackle him.

"Your forgiven. Im sorry i freaked out. I don't hate you." I lean down and our lips meet in a sweet embrace that seems to last forever.

The crowd of people go nuts when we kiss and start chanting.

We stand up and he pulls me close to him, picks me up bridal style, and carries me off the stage. Our lips meet again at the bottom. After our lips break apart he speaks.

"You know being a vampire, drugs have never had much of an effect on me. But you are now my drug of choice and I'm severely addicted to you."

"That's really corny." He frowns and I kiss him again "Unfortunately for us both I LIKE corny."

"So...what do we do now?" He sets me down and I think.

"Well I'm kind of tired...do you think you could take me home?"

"Of course I will! Anything for my ghoul." I smile and wrap my arms around his neck. I back up and we start walking toward the exit. As we're walking he grabs my hand and I feel a warm sensation coming from my chest.

We're stopped by our friends.

"Congratulations guys!"

"Thanks Frankie." I say smiling widely.

"It's about damn time!" Clawd says pulling Connor into a bro hug. Somehow he still holds onto my hand while doing it.

"Well you guys enjoy the party, I'm taking Twyla home."

Toralei walks behind me. Connor somehow managed a truce between her and the group of friends before me. "Use a condom." She whispers loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Why does evryone assume were having sex? On that awkward note. We depart. Thank you Toralei for the advice." Connor says as he picks me up and sprints to my house.

* * *

><p>"Well we're here." He says depositing me on my bed. "Well uhh good night! Sweet dreams...all that good stuff." I could tell he didn't want to leave. And I didn't want him to.<p>

"You can sleep here if you want. It won't be weird now that we're together. Besides we've done it what three times now?

"Ok. You sure...?"

I nod and he plops down on the bed next to me. We stare into each others eyes. After a little while our lips smash into one another as we share a passionate kiss. I could tell both of us were getting turned on. Mostly when he started to slowly unzip my dress. I felt him break the kiss and press his fangs to my neck.

I break apart from his lips "Connor we need to slow down. I'm not ready for that step yet."

"You're right I'm sorry, I tried to bite you because thats part of Vampire uh...mating. We can take things as slow as you want, I'm very patient. Except you know, when I don't get my way." He says the last part jokingly. I laugh and snuggle up next to him and we both drift off to sleep.

"Bonsoir mon amour." He whispers in my ear and kisses my head.

He speaks French? "Goodnight Connor." I rest my head on his chest and succumb to sleep.

This is all I need right here and now I know he feels the same way.

* * *

><p><strong>POV Unknown<strong>

* * *

><p>"Sir I have excellent news!"<p>

"This had better be good or your head will roll. You know full well I don't like being disturbed when I'm meditating!"

"My lord we have pin pointed his location."

He is struck speechless, an extremely rare sight.

"Where?"

"He is in the town of New Salem my lord. Apparently _HE_ has been watching over him for a while."

"Mobilize five garrisons to occupy New Salem and any surrounding areas. I want him captured before morning, do you understand? Failure is not an option!"

"It has already been done my lord they will arrive in the next few hours."

"Good. I grow tired of your presence. Leave at once."

"Of course." I leave his chambers and head to the command center. New Salem will be occupied within the next few hours and not even THEY can stop us. No one stops the Immortals.

**AN: Yep. I can't have a completely happy chapter now can I? Song was Believe by skillet.**

**everyone thank Damien the Storm Caller for telling me how vampire erections work.**

**Connor: you could have kept those Immortals freaks out of this chapter...**

**Me: shut up**

**Connor: okay...well thanks for finally putting us together.**

**Me: no problem. It'll have more impact when I kill her!**

**Connor: WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?**

**Me: Calm down. I'm kidding. Or am I?**

**Connor: I don't like you.**

**Me: you should. I'm technically your dad.**


	9. Chapter 9: Just one of those days

**AN: PLEASE READ! If you're not of mature disposition STOP READING THIS STORY NOW!The violence and language really kick in this chapter. I can not stress that enough. It's rated M for a reason. **

**This chapter is for those of you who prefer their chapters a little less...sweet. So originally I had a list of all the characters I was willing to kill off and when the time came I would choose someone at random and I had another list of gruesome deaths. Yeah... Blackjack wasn't supposed to survive after this chapter but I've since changed my mind. **

**Connor: Hey ole buddy ole pal...umm I'm on that list...you wanna change that? **

**Me: I know you're on the list...and no...you can stay there...I haven't decided your fate yet. Besides we're one short on that last list cause I crossed off a name for this chapter. **

**Connor: Okay then. Well guys we've broken 500 views. About 200 of those were when Cheesebobington let this story gather dust for 7 months...but uhh thanks. Good job. High fives all around. We love you all. Even our mute friends. **

**Connor's POV **

My eyes shoot open at the third crash in the distance. Must be fireworks or thunder. Despite my lack of nightmares and my yearn to fall asleep again, I can't. I look down at my ghoul who's asleep on my chest, snoring softly. Her heartbeat is slightly erratic but not out of fear. She must be having a good dream.

I hear one more loud crash in the distance. This time she wakes up and looks around panicked, then her eyes meet mine in the dark and she is put at ease.

"Hey." she kisses me sweetly "how long have you been awake?"

"Not much longer than you have."

"Did I fall asleep in my dress?" She says with a yawn. It's still dark out, but I can tell the sun is only an hour or two from rising.

"You did. Do you want me to leave so you can change?"

"No you're fine. I'll just change in my closet. Try to go back to sleep."

"But it's dark in your closet, how are you going to see?"

"I can probably see in the dark better than you. And unlike vampires, boogey people see in the dark with color. Don't ask me how."

"How?" I say trying to be cute. She rolls her eyes.

"Magic."

I nod and put my head back down on her pillow as she shuts the door. She emerges later with a pair of shorts and a purple t-shirt and she's let her hair down. She crawls next to me and puts her head down.

"Hey babe?"

She looks at me"Yeah?"

"I think I-" I'm interrupted by the sound of her front door being knocked off its hinges.

"What the hell?!" She says getting up with me following.

"Twyla stay behind me." She does what I ask and I shield her with my body.

"What's going on?" She sounds scared. I am too but for a completely different reason.

"I don't know..." We stand there frozen for about forty five seconds. The house is completely silent. Not even the squeak of a mouse is heard. Then two figures burst through the door with astonishing speed. In seconds I'm pinned to a wall by one and the other is slowly approaching Twyla. Through my haze of increasing rage I notice the men are in matching black uniforms. They look like special forces complete with combat helmets and balaclavas and have a patch on their shoulder that's a black pentagram blocking out the sun with a drop of blood in the center.

The one pinning me is just staring at me while he holds me there. They are both obviously vampires. Twyla is backing away slowly with fear in her eyes. Why doesn't she use her powers?

The other, bigger one grabs her by the hair and begins to jerk her toward the door.

I lose it. I feel completely energized as the primal rage to protect her courses through my veins like pure ecstasy. I don't know why but I've always felt GOOD when I was angry. I punch the one holding me, knocking him to the floor, splintering the wood, and smashing his helmet and more than likely his entire head, to pieces. The impact shatters my knuckles and he doesn't get up. I feel my knuckles start to heal faster than usual. I move faster than I ever have before, almost as if I had teleported, and grab the big one holding Twyla by the throat. I slam him into the far wall denting it. Than I feel my hands heat up with red energy as my vision turns completely purple and everything goes black.

**Connor's POV many years ago. **

"_Scarah wait up!" I yell chasing after her. If i was a human I'd be about five years old and she's six. _

_"You have to chase me slow poke!" Darn it I wish I was fast like uncle Sanguine already. I'm tired of everyone being faster and stronger than I am. Sanguine says I'm almost done growing slowly, than every fifteen to twenty years or so I'll get a little older. Much faster than the rate I'm aging now. We're running home from school on a chilly Friday afternoon. Both our houses are nearby so we just walk home everyday. _

_She turns a corner and I finally catch up to her. She's stopped for some reason and it takes me running into someone to realize why. There are three big kids standing in front of us. They are all humans and something about the way they look at us, almost as if we had been mean to them, really scared me. _

_The biggest one, who I assumed was the master human, spoke. "Well what do we have here? A couple of you monster freaks?" He looks at me with pure hate. "You a vampire you little brat?" I gulp and nod showing my fangs to them. "You know my little brother got very sick right after hanging out with one of you bastards. He's dead. I promised the next time I saw a vampire I would kill them." He lunges for me and pins me to a wall and starts choking me. The other two hold Scarah who's trying to get away. _

_She's screaming for someone to help. One of them grabs her by the hair and slams her into the wall. With the sound of her skull cracking against the bricks I feel something inside of me break snap. My vision becomes a purple haze as I knock the Human off of me and check on my only friend. Her head is bleeding and she's sleeping. _

_I slowly turn to the humans before me, a sinister grin plastered to my face. I can practically TASTE the fear coming off of them. It tastes good. Like candy. They try to run away and I lunge for the nearest one but a blur slams into me knocking me off my path. With this distraction the filth runs away with their tales between their legs. _

_I turn to the figure that tackled me. It's uncle Sanguine. His eyes are glowing purple and he has pentagrams in place of his pupils. _

_"Connor you need to calm down. Those boys didn't mean to hurt you or Scarah. They are just imbeciles, not worthy of the time or energy used to hurt them." _

_He's probably right. I should just calm down and take a nap. I'm really sleepy. Someone in my head speaks. "You know he's lying to you. Hold onto the hate, use it to bring justice to those animals." _

_"Who are you?" I say in my head. _

_"I'm your...conscience. Yes your conscience." _

_"Oh ok. It's nice to meet you mister conscience." _

_"Likewise. Here let me give you something for that drowsiness." _

_Suddenly I'm not tired anymore. I have this urge building inside of me, the urge to kill, the urge to destroy everyone and everything around me. Starting with Sanguine. I lunge at him screaming and he grabs me and pins me on the ground. I hiss at him as I lift him up and slam him into a wall. Three walls actually. He groans and gets up on the other side of the building. _

_I approach him and I grab him by the collar. He knocks me off of him and slams a brick into my head, knocking me out. _

_I wake up in darkness. My age is normal again and the anger is gone. A girl with blue skin appears before me. I don't recognize her right away I feel like I should know her though, like we share some kind of connection to each other. Her name...it...starts with a...T...Tammy or...Taylor. _

_"Connor it's me Twyla! You need to wake up! Wake up now!" I look at her confused. _

_"Why are you yelling? Shhh you'll wake me up. I'm asleep...I think." _

_"Oh for the love of..." Her fist turns black and she slams it into my face. _

**Connor's POV Shortly after he blacked out. **

"Connor! Come back to me! Wake up NOW!" ***smack* **

"Owww...ugggghhhh..." My vision returns to normal and I look at Twyla she looks angry, relieved, scared, and caring, all at once. I have a headache so bad it feels like my head was split open with an axe. It could have been because I don't know how long I was...flipping out...

I see Sanguine and Samuel both in Kevlar vests, but Samuel is still in his suit and Guin is in his black duster. Samuel has a machete strapped to his back and a Banelli M1014 in his hands. Guin has a Colt Anaconda in his right hand, and a large, blood covered, silver edged, hatchet in his left. They both have grey balaclavas on, each with different designs painted on them. Samuels is painted with dark tree branches and Guin has a viper's mouth. Everyone looks like they've seen things they wish they hadn't. I look at Twyla for answers as to why and she gestures sadly to whatever I'm pressing against the wall. I slowly turn my head and nearly choke out of shock.

The vampire is now nothing more than a charred, black, unrecognizable, body. I drop him, gasping and he crumbles to ashes as he hits the ground. I hiss and bare my fangs at my the pain coming from my blistered, burnt, and bleeding hands. I feel bile rise to my throat and I kneel down and begin vomiting.

"I...just...killed a man..." I begin to vomit again. What the hell have I done? I've been in plenty of fights and I've fed from live humans plenty of times. But...I've never killed any one...my god Twyla must be scared...of me...I'm a mindless fucking beast...

Sanguine speaks to me "Connor? Can you tell me the date?"

I stand up and I'm really shaky. As I almost fall over Twyla steadies me and helps me sit on her bed. Guin hands me a canteen and I smell the sweet blood inside. I down the contents in five seconds and speak.

"Ummm...it's Friday, October 31st, 2027."

"Good. No bad damage to your memory. Oh and you didn't kill a man. I'm sorry but...you've killed two." He gestures to the vampire I knocked down. His head is missing.

"Wears his head?" Guin gestures with his gun. I wish he wouldn't wave that thing around like that.

"It's over there, over there, and a little of it's up there." I look around and see chunks of brain matter. He says it so nonchalantly, not because he's a jerk, but because he knows I'm tolerant of gore. I always have been, he says its just the nature of being a vampire. Forgive my pun, but a million questions are running through my head right now.

"What's going on?" Asks Twyla sounding scared. I put my hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"We don't have enough time to explain. All you need to know is the town is being invaded and we have to get as many people out before the main force arrives." Samuel says walking toward the window and looking at the night sky being illuminated by fires and explosions in the distance.

"We have to go you two." Guin says jabbing a needle in my arm.

"What the hell?!" I yell rubbing my arm. I feel a lot better surprisingly.

"It's a stimulant, for the pain. Oh and here." he hands Twyla a silver edged dagger and hands me a spare revolver he had and a belt of, not surprising, silver .44 rounds. They were loaded down with vampire killing tools. all the weapons in the room either shot silver, or had a silver edge. "You're going to need these." Twyla and I had some more combat training sessions and I taught her how to fight with a knife, though she refused to carry one with her despite my insistence on the matter.

"Thanks." I say closing the chamber of the gun. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to see if we can get any more people on our way to the sewers. Then we use the sewers to sneak out of town and regroup with the rest of our forces."

We all start to move down stairs. Guin is in front scanning over every spot with his revolver, I'm in the middle with Twyla, who I plan to fight tooth and nail to protect. Samuel is in the back with his shotgun. He insisted that she carry a gun. Like I'm gonna let ANYONE get close enough to her for her to have to use the dagger.

When we get downstairs I see about a dozen corpses all bearing the same insignia as the two vampires upstairs. I also see Blackjack chewing on the throat of a struggling vampire. He's about the size of a black bear and his mane is glowing orange, a look I've never seen on him...ever.

"Blackjack, let's go." Guin says and Blackjack releases his victim and bounds toward us. He barks happily at me and licks my face.

He notices Twyla clinging to me and begins to growl at her.

"Blackjack heel!"Samuel says, Blackjack looks at him, as if he recognizes him as an authority figure, but keeps growling at Twyla. I grab the scruff of his neck, stare him in the eyes sternly, point to Twyla, and utter a single word. "FRIEND!"

He whimpers at me.

I drop the five hundred pound dog and he sniffs Twyla and walks toward the exit. "Well" she begins as we walk out her missing front door "Blackjack certainly wasn't as friendly as usual..."

"He didn't recognize you dear. He is kind of on high alert right now and he's been trained to neutralize any threats to us." Samuel says as we navigate through the woods towards the wolves house.

"Ok what do you mean 'he's been trained'. And how do you two know each other!? What the flying fuck is going on!"

"Damn it boy! We need to focus on getting you two out of here. We're burning moonlight! Calm down or I swear to god I'll knock you out and drag you there my self!" Guin yells, still moving.

After a little while we come up to the wolf residence. The house is burning and Clawd is being held by three vampires. His eyes are glowing red with anger and hate. Two are holding his arms and the other is beating him.

"Hey!" I yell letting my anger cloud my judgement. I should have waited, we don't know if this is an ambush. They all look our direction and pull out guns. I get in front of Twyla and shoot one in the head. I hate myself when he falls to the ground dead, not because I did it, because it was so damn easy to do it. The other two are gunned down by Guin and Samuel. I can't tell if the other two are dead.

I run over and check on Clawd. He's on his knees breathing heavily. His fur is matted with blood. "Where are your sisters and parents?" I ask worried.

"Clawdeen and Howleen are in the house! I've got to save them!" He tries to get up but those bastards did a number on him.

"I'll go get them." I say standing up.

"No!"/"Absolutely not!" I hear Twyla and Guin yell simultaneously. Twyla puts her hand on my arm. "Please don't. Let someone else do it."

"Sorry babe. I'll be back before ya' know it." I kiss her forehead and whistle for Blackjack to follow me.

I hear her yell and chase after me. "GET BACK HERE CONNOR!"

Guin dives for me, but I'm already in the house with Blackjack in tow.

The entire house is full of smoke, but it's only burning BADLY on the outside. I check every room, following the sound of someone crying. I crash through the last door and look around. My eyes fall on Howleen who's crying over the bodies of two wolves. Her parents. I never met them because they weren't home much, but seeing my friend grieving like this filled me with blind rage. Something I should be avoiding.

I calm myself and walk over and put my hand on her shoulder. There is a mutilated vampire with the strange insignia in the corner. I also see Clawdeen lying next to Howleen, she appears to be unconscious. "Howleen..." She looks at me, her eyes wet with tears. Her mouth and claws are covered in blood that isn't hers. "I need to get you out of here...the house could collapse soon."

"I...I don't...want...to leave them."

"We can't stay think about Clawd! Think about Twyla!"

She sniffs one more time and gets up. She slowly walks out the door. I walk over to Clawdeen and shake her to wake her up. Her eyes flutter open and she looks around.

"Connor? What're you doing he-" she looks around and her eyes linger on the bodies. "Oh right...that."

"We need to leave." I say helping her to her feet and slowly walking her outside. She's covered in cuts and scrapes.

As soon as we get outside we're rushed by the others. Clawd hugs his sisters tightly, and cries with relief.

Twyla approaches me and I open my arms for a hug. "See?" I say cockily "I told you I'd be fine." She steps close to me like she's going to hug me. Instead she slaps me across the face.

I cradle my cheek "What the hell was that for!?"

"If you EVER do something stupid like that again without getting help first, I am going to kill you myself!"

She kisses the cheek she slapped.

"I promise I won't scare you again." She smiles and I notice Guin glaring at me. "What are you mad about?"

"You could have gotten yourself killed! Next time use your goddamn head! Or next time I'll help your girlfriend kill you."

"Speaking of that" Clawd says limping toward the rest of the group with Howleen and Clawdeen. "You're totally whipped dude."

That causes everyone, except for me and the wolf sisters, to start laughing. They must have made up a lie about their parents to spare Clawd the grief, or keep him from losing his composure.

Guin breaks the noise with a shrill whistle. "Ok we're still pressed for time. Lets get moving. Everyone that just joined our group, we're getting out of the town. Lets mo-"

***BANG* *BANG* **

Clawdeen jerks twice and collapses. We turn around and see one of the vampires clutching a chest wound and holding a smoking pistol.

"CLAWDEEN!" Clawd yells, kneeling next to her with Howleen.

The fucker swivels his gun toward Twyla, who's eyes glaze over with fear. I feel that rage again, this time the catalyst is a mixture of seeing one of my friends gunned down and this...degenerate filth..trying to kill my girlfriend. Blackjack growls at the vampire, his maw widening. My eyes most likely turn red and my pupils change, but that red energy doesn't appear. Probably because I'm completely tapped out. Before I can move Guin shoots the vampire's hand causing him to drop the gun. He rushes over and attends to Clawdeen as Samuel restrains the vampire with silver handcuffs.

Guin's hands glow green with a healing spell. But healing magic wont save her. I saw the wounds, and she took a silver bullet through the heart.

"Is she going to make it...?" Clawd asks, Guin shakes his head sadly. And both he and Howleen break down crying.

I hear the vampire cackling. "Well that's one less of you mutts polluting the earth. I just wish the bitch didnt die so quickly, but it was nice watching the light leave her eyes."

I'm on top of him in the blink of an eye. I start smashing the fucker's head with my bare hands.

"YOU!" ***SMACK* **"FUCKING!" ***SMACK*** "PIECE!" ***SMACK*** "OF!" ***SMACK* **"MERCILESS!" ***SMACK* **"SHIT!" ***SMACK* **

***SMACK* *SMACK* *SMACK* *SMACK* **

I hear his nose break as I drive my knuckles straight into it. He chokes on his teeth. My hands are being covered by a mixture of his blood and my own. I can tell if I don't stop he'll be dead soon.

Guin yanks me off of him and throws me to the ground. The vampire was laughing the whole time I was punching him, and he still is. "You need to CALM DOWN! We are taking him alive for was in charge of this group and will have useful information."

My eyes have started glowing purple and I bare my fangs at my only blood relative. "I Have to kill him..."

"Oh don't worry. He will be killed very slowly and painfully. AFTER we get information out of him. Besides you called him merciless did you not? Prove you're better than he is by showing restraint. Otherwise you're two of the same."

"I DONT CARE! I want to kill him NOW!"

Twyla quickly walks over to me. She faces me and puts her hands on my chest. "Killing him won't bring Clawdeen back."

I don't know why but when she touches me I feel completely passive. All the anger is flushed out of my body and I feel warm.

"O-okay...I'm tired babe...I uh...I think...I'm going to...sleep...now...if that's okay..."

"Okay you do that. Goodnight."

I feel my self begin to stumble and the last thing I see is Guin rushing to help Twyla catch me.

_When I open my eyes I'm in a large cavern. In front of me is a tunnel with a giant iron gate blocking the entrance. It's locked with a padlock which I'm holding the key to. _

_"Open the gate..." I've heard that voice before. I can't place it with a face though... _

_I feel my body start to move toward the gate. I reach my hand to insert it into the padlock but someone grabs my wrist. I turn and see all my friends. Plus Samuel and Guin. Clawdeen isn't there. The one holding my wrist is Twyla. I can tell its the one made up by my brain, and not actually her in my dream. "You're dreaming. Wake up." _

**One hour later**

I wake up to the smell of sewage and pine trees. I look around and see my group and a bunch of others. Behind us is a large drainage pipe.

"Mister Sanguine he's awake!" Twyla yells. She's cradling my head on her lap. Much to her father's obvious displeasure.

"Thank you Twyla. And please just call me Guin. Hello sleeping beauty."

I glare from my comfortable position. "Connor can you tell me what I've said about negative emotions?"

"I need to avoid emotional outbursts."

"Right you are. You almost lost control of the power twice tonight. If you lose control completely, not only will you never be the same again, but you will kill a lot of innocent people."

"Viper...IS HE THE-?"Guin put his hand up to silence Samuel. As if he didn't want anyone to hear him finish his sentence. He just nods.

They are called over by a werewolf and a human both in the grey balaclavas with their own unique designs.

Twyla looks frightened "Are you all right babe?" I ask concerned.

"Yeah...I'm fine. Actually no, I'm not fine...what the hell is going on Connor?" I stare up into her eyes.

"I honestly know just as much about the situation as you do. Probably less seen as how I've spent most of it sleeping." She chuckles, but sadly.

"How are Clawd and Howleen?"

"Not good. Howleen hasn't spoken a word and Clawd is just...angry. Neither of their eyes have changed back from red yet."

I see the vampire. The one who shot and killed Clawdeen. He's tied in silver chains and being guarded by two vampires and three werewolves. Clawdeen was like a sister to me and she was gone in two twitches of the bastard's finger. I feel the anger, the hate. I remember wanting to bash his face in. It felt marvelous at the time but now I feel almost numb. I've killed three, almost four, arguably living beings tonight it seemed right at the time but is it?

I start to get up, ignoring those thoughts and wanting to send this bastard to hell. Twyla keeps me in place firmly. "He's going to be dealt with using extreme prejudice." I just sigh. Her and Guin are right, I can't lose it anymore. I just put my head down and fall deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" I'm brought back to reality by my ghouls sweet voice.

I think a little longer. "Do I scare you? Be honest are you afraid of me?"

She doesn't even hesitate. "No. Of course you don't scare me."

"Ok...I'm sorry you had to see me do...the things I did."

"It's fine. You were acting on instinct and emotion. I'm glad you did because without you I'd be dead."

"I'm glad too. I don't know what I would do without you." (AN: I do!)

She presses her lips to mine. "I know."

I see Draculaura run into Clawd's arms. He breaks the news about Clawdeen to her. he doesn't point out the fuck most likely to spare her the anger. I don't listen to their conversation.

A large werewolf whistles to get everyone's attention. He speaks with an extremely deep voice. "Alright everyone were going to be using a secret entrance to get to our destination! When your rescuers tell you to you'll come over here and pick up this!" He holds up an odd looking cube. It looks like a magnificent blending of science and magic. "At which point you'll be teleported to our destination! You'll be provided food, shelter, and medical care! Are there any questions?" No one said anything. "Great. Agents get your people squared away!" The people in gray balaclavas went to their respective groups. Guin and Samuel walked over and gestured for everyone to come over. "Alright" Samuel begins "we're the first group through. Come on." We follow them and Samuel hands the cube to Twyla, who is supporting me because I'm completely fatigued. We grab it together and Samuel steps forward and presses a button on the cube. The whole thing starts to vibrate and glow a brilliant bright blue. What's next is a sensation of falling and I hear our feet hit the ground.

I look around and see a forest of oak trees. In front of us is a heavily fortified gate in front of an enormous concrete wall in the side of a mountain. We approach the guards, who are wearing extremely heavy looking armor, combat helmets, and very intimidating gas masks. Samuel speaks in a commanding voice "I need to enter the FOB. I have refugees from New Salem."

He steps aside and opens the gate. "Of course Sir! The gates unlocked."

The other guard, who carried himself with more authority than this guard, spoke to Samuel. "Good to have you back Bleach. Is Viper ok?"

"Yeah his heart is still un-beating."

"Good to hear. I'm sure the brass will want to debrief you and Viper together, so I would hurry up."

He nods and gestures for us to follow him inside. So many unanswered questions. Who were those vampires? What did they want? Why didn't the one aim for me instead of Twyla? How do Guin and Samuel know each other? How does Samuel know my dog? Who the hell is Bleach and Viper?

I know I'm not getting anything out of Guin until tomorrow. We walk through a long, narrow tunnel until we get to a set of steel doors. There is a retina scanner, and some kind of blood analyzing device. He pricks his finger on the needle and inserts it in the slot and something clamps down on his finger. A female electronic voice comes from a terminal on the door. "Vocal or retinal identification please. Please comply or loss of index finger may follow."

He clears his throat and speaks into a microphone. "Samuel 'Bleach' Slenderman reporting in."

"Access granted. Welcome home agent Bleach. Will your guests be joining you or shall I terminate?"

"That's alright ESSi. They can enter."

"Affirmative. Subject one Twyla Slenderman, age: seventeen, born October first 2010. Subject two Connor Produltiones, age: one thousand seven hundred and fifty, born: January fourth 277 AD. You are cleared to enter." The female computer voice says cheerily. The steel blast doors slide apart, revealing three more sets of steel doors, and one titanium set of doors, that slide open one by one.

Inside this base, for some kind of organization who's purpose is to fight those vampires who invaded New Salem, it looked just like a normal government building. There were a few people walking around, but most of the activity I heard was coming from the surrounding halls and rooms. There was a bunch of commotion coming from one particular room. We just kept walking toward a large section that seemed like a large dormitory. Some other groups were now behind us with their rescuers. We were being lead to a place where we would be assigned rooms I suppose.

As soon as all the groups had gathered in the dormitory, a female human in a military uniform begins to speak to the crowds of people. "Refugees, welcome. I am commander Ackerman. I know some of you are very confused right now but I'm going to try to give you some answers." Her voice is strong and full of authority. Right now everyone is extremely close together. Twyla has my arm slung over her to keep me from collapsing, but she slips her free hand into mine. "So far all we know is that your respective towns and cities were all invaded, and as we speak are being occupied and fortified, by a group of vampires known as the Immortals." What did she just say? Full scale invasion? I quickly scan through the crowd looking for my friends. I see all of them except for Gil, Lagoona, and Frankie. I feel my blood boil as I assume the worst. "I'm afraid that even though we got many of you out, this is only about eight percent of the population, both human and monster alike, from the targets invaded. We don't know how they did it, where they came from, or WHY they did it."

There is a murmur of uneasiness that spreads throughout the crowd.

"But rest assured you and your families are safe here. In a moment you'll be given your room numbers and keys, along with guidelines and cafeteria schedules." Everyone looks as if they understand whats going on so commander Ackerman speaks again. "There is just one more thing. Anyone that feels they want to fight this threat, it's not required, but if you wish you can apply to join our organization. Depending on what you want to do, and what your good at, you'll be fighting against the Immortals. ANYONE wanting to join, that is not a monster or meta human, MUST be at least eighteen years of age."

"And what is this "organization" anyway? How do we know you people aren't just helping these vampires, these "Immortals"?" A man holding his daughter yells.

"We're known as the MDA or monster defense agency. We're a legitimate organization that works along side the United Nations to defend communities from any...unique groups of rogue monsters and meta humans that endanger them.

"You expect us to just believe that?! Oh and by the way good job "defending" us. My parents are DEAD!" A female water elemental yells.

Ackerman turns to her and scolds but keeps her voice level. "No one is stopping any of you from leaving. The door is that way." She points to the door leading from the main hall to the dorm area. "But when you get into Immortal occupied territory don't expect food, and shelter." As I expected, no one leaves. "Wonderful. Now if you'll all kindly form a line with your family members we'll give you your dorms." She walks off of the stage and the large werewolf who told us about the cube starts barking orders.

Twyla speaks to me "I don't know about you but that doesn't make me feel better." Samuel and Guin approach.

"Okay you two, were going to try to get you a room with Howleen, and Clawd. Partly to keep you from...Uhhh...getting...intimate. But the main reason is we need someone to watch you three" Samuel says pointing at me Howleen and Clawd. "And keep you from killing our...new friend."

I speak up "Wouldn't putting us three in close quarters make us want to HELP each other kill that bastard?"

Guin speaks. "You are much calmer when your with Twyla. I can feel it radiating off of you. Twyla is also the most level headed of you four and will be able to talk some sense into you. She can't do that if you're spread all over the dormitory."

"I'm not complaining." I say smiling at Twyla.

"Hey Viper? Can you call my cell real quick?" Guin pulls out his phone and dials a number. I get why when I hear the ringtone from when I first met Samuel. "I mean it. I will castrate you. You have to earn my respect and marry her before you get to do that." We both blush as he walks away to help another group, he sends Clawd and Howleen over.

"Connor I'm sorry...I didn't think he would-" I stop her from talking. I can tell she thinks I'm going to freak out because I'm scared of talking about marriage or something sillier.

"He's not going to scare me off that easily. Or ever."

Guin clears his throat loudly when the wolf siblings arrive. "Alright love birds that's enough. Besides you two don't need to worry about him. He only jokes with people he likes." Someone hands him a set of four key cards. He passes them out to each of us. "You're room number is 393. Connor if you need me I'll be in the barracks. Thats where Blackjack is too." He points to a smaller

Area of rooms. This place is absolutely enormous. I've added that to my list of questions for Guin, how big exactly is this place? And it's only an FOB so how big is the main Head Quarters? "Twyla, if you need to get a hold of your father he'll be there as well." He starts to walk off but stops. "Give it to me." I sigh pulling out and handing him the revolver I was gonna use on the knee caps of the fucker that shot Clawdeen. He walks off toward the barracks. Leaving us alone.

Twyla starts yawning which travels around our circle. "Man I'm beat. Lets find our room." Clawd yawns, to which we all agree.

We walk in the door. Great only two beds. "Umm...sorry Howleen...I'm not sleeping with you...and I'm not sleeping with you Clawd..." I say uneasily.

"Well sis," Clawd speaks to Howleen. "I love you but I don't want to share a bed with you."

"Pfft. I'm not seeping with you either."

Twyla speaks up. "Connor? You and I can sleep on the couch. Besides, Guin and my dad told me to keep you from getting stressed out. That includes avoiding nightmares because, well...you know...are you...alright with that?"

I nod with a yawn and fall on the couch. I get confused when she doesn't lay down with me. "Babe what's wrong? Aren't you tired?"

"Hmm? Oh nothing. Howleen doesn't want to sleep yet so her and I are going to talk for a little bit. I'll hold your hand so I'll still filter your dreams." She pulls up a chair next to the couch across from Howleen who's sitting on her bed.

I put my head down again. With the sun already up (yes I can tell when it's out. It's useful for vampires to know when a giant ball of light that can kill them is out) and me being completely drained of energy stacked on top of each other, I'm surprised I haven't slipped into a coma or something.

I just focus on the comfort and calmness of her touch. In my sleep stricken stupor I speak again without realizing it, because I was already asleep in my mind. "Goodnight Twyla. I love you." I notice her turn to look at me as my eye lids are struggling to stay open. They finally close and I feel her lips brush against mine. "I love you too."

"Awesome." I say drowsily and let sleep's alluring embrace absorb me.

**AN: I'm having kind of rough patch so if you hate this chapter this is the one time I ask you keep it to yourself, thank you. **

**I liked writing Clawdeen's death a whole bunch. I felt my fist colliding with the vampire's face as I wrote it. Sorry he's alive by the way. He was supposed to die but I had a change of heart. Any way thanks for the support and PM me if you want me to answer something or you want to know what any acronyms stand for. I know I left a lot of questions unanswered but I'll explain everything next chapter. Which I'll be posting in five minutes. Seriously check. In fact it should be up when you finish reading this. **

Top of Form 3

Bottom of Form 3


	10. Chapter 10: The experiment

**AN: Sorry i didn't update last week been busy.**

**Connor: he's full of it. We've been watching Attack on Titan all week.**

**Me: He's right, it's just been me and Connor. Twyla doesn't like it much...banana**

**Connor: you know pretty much everything you write in these authors notes is just pointless and nonsensical right?**

**Me: you make it worse by talking. Roll the clip Cornelius.**

**Connor: my names not...YOU CREATED ME IN YOUR HEAD HOW THE HELL DO YOU FORGET MY NAME?!**

**Cornelius- I mean Connor's POV**

My body aches from regenerating so much yesterday. I've been sitting in our dark room for about forty five minutes. Everyone else is snoring softly. I've been watching my ghoul sleep, It seems creepy but she looks even more perfect in my eyes when she's having good dreams. Twyla is on the couch with me, her head is resting on my upper chest. She never stopped clasping my hand when she fell asleep though I'm not complaining.

I half heartedly want to go for a run but I decide not to. I'm still wearing the monkey suit from the dance.

I'm the only one awake because its still pretty early. Well late for humans but early by monster standards. I begin to lean over to one side, trying not to disturb Twyla, and dig in my pocket for my phone. The movement causes her to stir slightly in her sleep. I text Guin to come to the room we were given so I don't disturb Twyla or the others when I leave. I know he's awake because he is always up before me. I want to get answers, I'm tired of being in the dark. I also request a change of clothes to get out of this damn suit.

About fifteen minutes after I text him, Guin quietly enters the room and shuts the door. Despite most of our party having enhanced hearing, no one awakens. "Morning..." He tosses me a set of navy cargo pants, a black v-neck, and my leather jacket. I'm surprised by the jacket, but I dont care how he got it.

"...I assume you want answers right? Fire away."

I think about what I want to ask first. "Who were those vampires last night?"

He nods "They are a group of vampires known as the Immortals. Not a very clever name if you ask me. The MDA's main goal right now is discovering what they're up to and stopping it."

"What's it like now that they've occupied Salem?"

"I...don't know..."

I roll my eyes. He stares at his boots when he lies. "You're lying. Tell me the truth."

He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. "Okay I know... But I can't tell you for security reasons. All I will say is its not ideal, but the people there aren't being killed in the streets anymore."

"Fair enough." I say checking on Twyla. She's still sleeping with a small smile on her face.

"You care for her deeply don't you?"

I nod smiling as I direct my attention back to Twyla's sleeping form. My cold flesh feels warmer in her embrace.

"Well it's blatantly obvious. What's your next question?"

I look back at my uncle, my mind reverting back to our conversation. "I've figured out both you and Samuel work together. But how is it I've never heard of the MDA, or met Samuel before this year."

He sighs "What you need to understand is this. The MDA's existence is not classified knowledge, but no one is supposed to look at someone's face and say they work for us. The only reason there are refugees in this facility is because the Immortals were very extreme. Drastic times call for drastic measures."

"If its so secret why do hundreds of people now know what the agents look like? And who the hell are Bleach and Viper?"

"We never took off our masks did we? The only reason you knew it was us was because you know us personally. As for our code names well...they're code names..."

"Why Bleach and Viper?" He pulls up a chair next to the couch and sits in it.

"In the MDA when someone becomes a full fledged agent, they are given a call sign or code name that is given by their teammates. They're mask is also painted by their teammates. Bleach got his because he spilled some on one of his suits. He spent an entire briefing with a huge stain on his chest, no one said anything and he didn't draw attention to it. As for mine, well I'm a little afraid of snakes. So they named me after one. Part of becoming an agent is having your souls bonded. To do that you go into a fear landscape and help the other person face their fears. Samuel laughed when he found out one of my greatest fears was snakes and dubbed me viper."

I nod satisfied "Ok...how does Blackjack know Samuel?"

"The MDA is comprised of agents of various backgrounds that deal with combat and monster hunting. Typically Phoenix hounds are used by monster hunters against particularly irritable critters that have a weakness to fire, and even ones that use fire, due to their natural heat resistance. So the MDA heavily uses them because they are good for tracking, and are easier to tame and train than hellhounds. Every team of agents has at least one. I was permitted to keep Blackjack at home with you and I."

"So whenever you told me Blackjack was hunting?"

"He was usually with us on a mission."

I sigh. This is kind of a shock learning all these secrets about my uncle.

"Why did you take all these measures for my safety? Teaching me not just self defense, but bonafide military combat tactics, having our minds partially linked so you can check up on me, giving me a freaking WAR DOG for my birthday? Not that I don't love Blackjack it just seems a little strange is all!"

Twyla swats my arm and mumbles drowsily. "Stop yellin you *YAWN* woke me up..."

I wince "Sorry babe. I didn't mean to wake you..."

She snuggles up to me and falls back asleep.

Guin leans onto is knees as if trying to decide if he should speak. "Ok listen carefully because I will not repeat this. Only I, Bleach, and a VERY small part of the brass, know what the Immortals are after and why they invaded New Salem and all the towns around it. They want YOU."

I'm a little confused. "They want me? Why? I'm only an average vampire..."

He scoffs. "You're far from average. Have you ever seen any vampire with eyes that work like ours?"

"No, I guess not."

"You'd be right. Our family has a special ability that makes us very powerful. Our eyes. When they get to the final stage, the purple pentagrams, we can accurately predict whats going to happen around us in a fraction of a second."

"So it's like the sharingan from Naruto?"

He squints at me "The what? Is that some new age slang?"

"No, sorry."

"Alright, anyway you and I are the last of our family, so were the only ones with this ability. But YOU are the only one with your power."

"What is the power you're talking about?"

"That red energy. I don't know much about it. How, or why it works, what exactly it does, where it comes from, are all mysteries. All I know is the Immortals want it, and I know a little bit about our family history to know that if you lose control of that power the result will be...absolute destruction. Or at least that's what I gathered from the book I read after you discovered it for the first time. I just know it isn't good. Its even worse now because the red energy appearing means you'll lose control a lot more easily. But recently I've learned how to make it easier to control for you."

I'm very intrigued now. "I'll bite, what is it?"

He just points at Twyla's sleeping form. "You, Her...and this." He pulls a small leather bound journal from out of his black duster.

"An...old book...and my girlfriend are going to help control my powers? What are you going to blend the book up with her hair and rub it on me?!"

Twyla jerks awake and glares at me with her arms crossed. If looks could kill... "Uhh...sorry babe." She keeps glaring at me and scoots to the other side of the couch. "Twyla! I'm-" I say loudly trying to apologize.

Howleen groans from the other side of the room "Shut the hell up! My god, it's like five PM..." She throws a pillow which heads straight for Guin's head. He moves his head out of the way and let's it sail toward me. It bounces off the wall after I duck.

I speak much more quietly now. "Twyla, I am sorry I woke you up..." She just glares at me more but she sighs.

"Oh Come here." She tackles me on the couch in a hug. I get lost in her lilac orbs as she straddles me. I focus all my energy in NOT getting a hard on. She gets a look of frustration on her face. "Damn it. Why can't I stay mad at you?" She starts chuckling at what she said.

I look up thoughtfully. "Because I'm good looking, charming, charismatic, intelligent, witty, and extremely humble?"

"Well I won't lie you are good looking..."

"So you only want me for my body? Twyla I'm hurt." I say my words dripping with sarcasm.

"No I love you for you. It's only a bonus that you're good looking too."

Did she just...? "Wait...you love me?"

She nods happily. "I'm pretty sure I do."

I can't help but smile, showing my fangs. "I love you too."

"I know...you say that like you've been holding it in...you told me last night right before you crashed."

I don't remember saying that... I look at her confused and I open my mouth to speak but her lips meet mine and my breath that I never use is taken away. After the kiss is broken apart, Twyla shifts on my lap so her back is against my chest. She closes her eyes like shes going to fall asleep again. In the process, she brushes against a spot on my lap that...grows.

She looks at me, a little surprised. "Is...is that what I think it is...!?" I nod smiling nervously. "Umm...wow..." She looks at me blushing, but then her blush disappears and is replaced with a playful smile. That doesn't help with my excitement, quite the opposite in fact.

"...Do you...want me to get rid of that for you?" I don't believe what I just heard. I'm loving this, don't get me wrong, but I just NEVER thought I would hear something like that come out of Twyla's mouth...

"God...you have...NO idea what you're doing to me Twyla..." I groan shifting her in to a more comfortable position. She giggles and pecks me on the lips.

"I kind of do have an idea...I'm kind of sitting on it."

"Oh for fangs sake! Get! A! Room!" I hear Clawd yell, removing the pillow from his ears and throwing it. "you guys actually woke me up! I've never smelled so much sexual tension before!" I had actually forgotten about him and Howleen.

"Oh like you and Draculaura don't do the same thing in public!" I yell smirking.

Howleen gets up out if bed, still in her pajamas, and begins to storm out of the room.

"Howleen? Where are you going?" I say getting a look of utter confusion on my face.

"I'm going to go find some train tracks because it will be much quieter and I can maybe GET SOME SLEEP!" Clawd shrugs and follows his sister.

"What's her problem?" I ask looking at Twyla for answers.

She sighs "Oh she's just tired, Howleen loves her sleep...I woke her up early once and she didn't talk to me for a week."

***ahem***

Oh right Guin is here too.

"Are you quite done? By the way have you and Twyla forgotten her father is a trained killer?"

I look at her with fake shock on my face. "Is this true?" I don't really care that her dad could probably kill me without even thinking about it. In fact most of the agents in the MDA could probably kill me just from muscle memory...is it bad that I'm not the least bit phased by this? I feel like I should be worried.

"ENOUGH! As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by hormonal teenagers, I have an idea of how we can get Connor's powers under control."

Twyla's eyes light up with excitement. "That crazy red energy that fried one of those soldiers? how? I thought you said when he uses it he blacks out and can lose control of his body?"

I remember waking up holding the charred corpse. The second person I've killed. I shouldn't have done it. I don't care if they were evil. I shouldn't have killed them.

_No. You did the right thing. They endangered her. They harmed her. You must kill anyone who wishes to harm her. Anyone._

Twyla notices me spacing out and realizes what she said. "Oh god...Connor...I'm so sorry..."

"What? You're fine. I'm not going to get mad at you because accidentally brought up a touchy subject." Honestly I'm a little surprised when she apologizes. Normally when I'm silent after someone says something, I'm okay with what they said. If I'm not okay with it, well...they know VERY quickly.

"I still feel bad."

I brush some hair out of her face. "Don't feel bad. I don't like it when you frown. Besides it takes a lot to get me mad." Oh that is such BS. It only takes one. little. Push. Usually it's when a friend gets pushed. I don't give a shit what people think about me, but when you hurt someone I care about...and I seriously say this for your own safety, ...just run.

We just stare at each other for about ten seconds, Though staring into her eyes feels like an eternity.

***AHEM***

"What?!" I growl deeply at my uncle. Wait...where did THAT come from?

He crosses his arms and gets an annoyed look on his face. "Well I've been trying to convey important information to you..." he makes eye contact with Twyla and winks at her. Not sure why but it makes me feel uneasy.

He glares at me. "...But it seems you just want to spend time with this little bitch."

I feel my eyes change, it feels like I'm squinting exceptionally hard when they change. Judging from the intensity they're in the final stage.

As my mind processes his sentence. I'm filled with irrational anger.

**"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU CALL HER?!"**

He looks at me calmly. "I said, Twyla. Is. A. Bitch. You should really calm down, you might scare her." He walks toward her, stares at her for a second, and slaps her causing her to yelp. "See? Told you. I thought you taught her self defense? You obviously didn't do a good job." I turn my attention to my ghoul, who's holding her cheek. I try to move her hands but she won't let me. I see tears start to form in her eyes when she looks at me.

I turn back to Guin, who has started grinning like an idiot. His smile disappears as I start chuckling, than laughing. Than I begin to bellow with insane laughter that comes from absolutely no where. My laughter begins to die down a little.

***heh* he*hahmmhmha* **"You...shouldn't...have..***Heh***...

...Touched ...her... you bastard..."

I feel my fangs grow longer and I begin to stand up. I carefully lift Twyla off of me and set her down. She looks very calm, and surprisingly, Guin didn't leave a mark. My hands erupt with a glowing red aura. It begins to spread over the rest of my body until I'm fully engulfed in it. I may be telling you this but my mind is focusing on one thing.

Hurting him, for hurting Twyla. I'm going to break every damn bone in his body.

Then I'll let him heal and do it all again. And again. And again. And again! And again! And again!

The aura, and my vision, starts turning a darker, darker, darker, darker, darker, darker, red.

I stare at Guin for what seems like an eternity. I hear the angry crimson aura around my body crackling with energy as my blood boils. He just stands there, a bored expression on his face.

I sprint toward him and focus all my energy into my fist so I can drive it into his skull.

Twyla's POV

Connor and Guin just stand there staring at each other. Connor's shadow is going nuts! It keeps changing shape rapidly but never taking any definite form.

My boyfriend is completely cloaked in red energy. Something that hasn't ever happened, even when I was attacked. I'm scared right now, not because I'm afraid of Connor, but I'm afraid of what this is doing to him.

Even when it was only on his hands, for MAYBE two minutes, it left them badly burned and blistered. It had looked like he had held a firecracker in his hands, lit it, and held his hands closed as it went off. What will it do covering his entire body? Do I even want to know?

Those thoughts are pushed from my mind as he twitches and I teleport in front of Guin. As planned, Connor doesn't hit me.

He gets close though, his fist is inches from my face. His long fangs and all his other pearly whites are exposed by an angry snarl.

I keep my face stern and calm. He just stays frozen in this position, staring at me with a blank expression. His eyes meet mine. I never noticed how beautiful they look in this form, the way they glow through the angry red hue. He hesitantly lowers his fist and the energy around him slowly turns into a soft green.

I soften my expression and bring my hand up to touch his face, but he backs up quickly.

He looks like he's struggling to speak. Finally he chokes out a single word as he gestures frantically to the aura surrounding him. "**H-hurts." **He points to me and touches his face, then he shakes his head. His voice is much deeper, and rattles slightly when he speaks in this form.

I smile softly at him "It's okay. It won't hurt me." He nods slowly as I cover my hand in protective shadows and begin to caress his face. He grabs it and holds it there, moving into my hand with his face. He does that for almost a minute.

Ok what's going on? Guin said at this point Connor should have been pacified and blacked out...

Connor gently removes my hand from his face and gets between me and Guin, guarding me protectively. His aura turns red again.

"Sorry Twyla. I must have made a mistake or misinterpreted the text...well time for plan B I suppose." He says probably knowing something would have gone wrong. That REALLY makes me nervous. I don't think he understands the gravity of the situation.

But when I see his calm face, the way he carries himself in front of Connor...as if he's done this a thousand times and isn't worried it will make Connor worse...

I have complete confidence in his plan. I nod signaling I'm ready. Connor looks at both of us with a curious expression.

Connor shrugs and returns his attention to Guin. His muscles tense up as he readies him self to charge him.

"NOW!" Guin yells as his eyes change. Connor starts to move and my eyes start glowing as I pin him to the wall with shadow chains. He is held there struggling with all his might. He left a substantial hole in the wall of our apartment, it's a good thing we have one of the rooms on the outer wall.

Guin pulls out a custom modified hand held tazer and starts walking toward Connor. He struggles even more and I'm afraid he'll strain himself. Guin charges up the tazer and sighs "Sorry I have to do this boy." I turn away and wince when he presses it to Connor's neck.

Connor starts growling as his muscles convulse. He finally blacks out from the pain. Guin must have had this made specifically for Connor...or an angry rhino.

I gently set him down on the ground using shadows. The energy rapidly dissipates, leaving his body covered in wounds that begin steaming as they heal. Guin checks his eyes, those are back to normal as well.

Clawd and Howleen, along with Draculaura, Duece, and Cleo walk through the door at that moment. The room is an absolute mess of dry wall and the carpet has burn marks from where Connor stepped.

As they walk in Clawd starts to speak. "Hey guys. What did...we...miss...?" He looks around the room with his mouth hanging open. He's joined by everyone but Howleen

Howleen brushes past him. "We got breakfast from the creep-oops I mean the CAFeteria." She says cafeteria with a mocking voice. She probably got corrected by someone here, even though most of the people are monsters, were still expected to speak like normies. It's easier to just speak like them than get in an argument with one who thinks they're superior to us.

"Ummm...is he okay...?" Deuce asks, sounding very confused. Probably like everyone else.

"He's fine, he had a little temper tantrum. His uncle and I..." I gesture to Guin who waves to the group as a whole "...Were doing an experiment without Connor's knowing about it."

"What exactly did you do to him?! There is a hole in your wall and he's unconscious! And Howleen why aren't you the least but surprised?!" Draculaura yells at us like we're crazy.

Guin spoke nonchalantly "Oh nothing much. I pissed him off by calling Twyla a bitch and pretended to hit her..." He taps his chin thoughtfully. "...You know I hate using that word, bitch, why did we decide on that again?"

"Because Connor hates that word too. It had more impact when you called me one."

"And I was in on it." Howleen admits with a shrug.

"Why did you do that to him? I mean, he irritates the crap out of me, but this seems kind of cruel."

Connor did something a while back that pissed her off...I think he kept bugging her to teach him magic which she declined to do but I'm not sure.

Guin speaks again. "Well as all of you know Connor has...a very short temper. Few things set him off, but the few things that do, do so quickly. When he gets exceptionally angry, frustrated, stressed, or basically has any excess amounts of negative emotion, he produces this...energy that surrounds him, what exactly it does is still a mystery. But I believe it is some kind of old and powerful magic. He's had progressively more trouble controlling his power and it would be VERY bad if he lost control completely."

"How bad would it be?" Howleen asks with curiosity in her eyes.

"You ever see Godzilla? Think that, only compacted into a vampire who's 6'1 and weighs 153 pounds."

He begins pacing back and forth, stopping every once in a while to check Connor. "Until recently, the only way to calm him down after he gets too angry has been to incapacitate him however I could. I noticed last night during the invasion that when he would have lost his composure for the second time, he was instantly calmed by Twyla's touch. Granted he wasn't completely cloaked in his red energy and he still tried to kill our prisoner..." I notice Howleen and Clawd stare at the floor with a mixture of grief and anger. "...But it was just a theory. Obviously getting the energy to appear and having her touch him didn't work."

"Uhhhh..." Connor starts to shift slightly on his bed of debris.

"Connor!" I yell running to him and kneeling over him.

Connor's POV

My ears are ringing and I'm blinded by the lights of the room as my eyes open. "Uhhhh..." My eyes fully open and I see Twyla leaning over me smiling.

"Glad to see you're awake. That was some meltdown you had."

Oh no. No, no, no, no, no!

I completely over reacted. I didn't blackout when I got mad, but my memory of the "meltdown" was fuzzy at best.

"What?! Did I hurt anyone?" Twyla and Clawd help me stand up. They let me stand on my own, but my vision gets blurry and I fall to my knees.

"Babe just lay down." She tries pushing me down but I resist.

"No I have to-"

"YOU LAY DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Draculaura yells stomping her foot. I obey the command, mostly out of shock.

"Jesus Laura! Blow out my other ear drum why don't you!" I begin rubbing my ear half jokingly.

"Thank you for staying put." She says sweetly.

"You're welcome. Now Twy, tell me EXACTLY what just happened. Also Guin? Remind me why I want to punch you. I can't remember." I made it sound like I did, but I really don't remember. The urge to is there, but it's easy to ignore.

Twyla is the one who tells me what happened, while she's doing it she stares at the floor. "Last night while you were sleeping, Guin and I came up with a way to test a theory he had. He theorized that if you're powered up and I come in contact with you than you'll be pacified."

"So you thought the smartest course of action was to have Guin call you a bitch and pretend to hit you?" She looks at me and nods sheepishly. Probably realizing how silly it sounds.

"You two realize I wanted to KILL Guin right? What if your plan didn't work?! I could have hurt both of you!"

She grabs my hand which puts me at ease. "You could have but didn't. We had everything under control so calm down."

Guin nods agreeing with her. "Yes. Connor we gambled a little bit, but you are absolutely incapable of hurting her. You proved that to me today. Besides I've sparred with you enough times that I know your fighting style like the back of my hand. I can hold my own."

"Okay, I trust you. Just one thing..." I look both of them I the eyes so they know I'm dead serious. "...Do NOT ever do that again. On a different note I never knew you two were such great actors..." I sit up, ignoring Twyla's protests. "...How'd you make yourself cry?"

She sighs giving up on making me lay down on my back. "I'm just good at acting I suppose."

"And you've never tried out for plays or anything? You both had me completely convinced. Obviously you knew that." I give Guin a dirty look knowing full well he was the ring leader, not Twyla. He takes the hint and casually walks out nodding at our group before closing the door. Everyone present finds seats around the room. Clawd and Draculaura sit on his bed, Howleen is on her bed, Deuce and Cleo are sitting on the couch, and Twyla is still kneeling next to me.

"You know I have stage fright...the only reason I jumped on stage at the dance is because I was overcome with emotion. Any other time I would have just melted into the shadows..."

"Hmmm..." I say, focusing more on my empty stomach. I don't know how I've been able to control my hunger. I've only had that small amount of blood from Guin...and even that was only the synthetic crap...

"Connor! CONNOR!" *sigh*

I'm brought back to reality by a flying bagel hitting my forehead. I watch it fall to the floor, roll slightly, and settle.

"What?" I say innocently, my eyes scanning the room for who threw the bagel. Twyla has a look of irritation on her face.

"What do you want to eat? The only stuff they had was fruit, oatmeal and bagels." Clawd informs me in between bites of an orange.

"Can you hand me a bagel? Preferably one that wasn't tossed at me and is currently residing on the floor."

"Sorry that's the last one." Twyla goes back to munching on a bright red apple.

I sigh, tired from my recent excursion and my stomach still growling. I don't really want anything else plus I need to get some blood. I stand up and grab the clothes I knocked on the floor when I powered up and head to the bathroom to change.

I come out in the fresh clothes and discard the suit by wadding it up and setting it on the top of the couch, mostly to annoy Cleo who still finds me slightly irritating. "Guys I'm gonna go on a walk... I'll catch up later." I kiss Twyla on the forehead and as I head towards the door Clawd and Howleen look at each other and nod standing up and walk towards me. "What are you guys doing?"

"We're done eating..." Clawd gets close to me and barely whispers in my ear. Judging from what he says, he didn't want Draculaura to hear. "...and we need to talk about our 'new friend' away from our more...compassionate friends ." My eyes widen slightly, which Twyla notices with a look of suspicion on her face.

I nod to the two wolves in front of me and head out onto the balcony outside the door. I'm obviously curious as to why they wanted to talk to me. Sure I'm still grieving, but I'm trying not to show it for Twyla's sake. We walk into the area where the speech was held and sit down against a brick pillar. "Ok guys, were all alone what'd ya want to talk about?"

Howleen speaks sitting across from me while Clawd leans against the pillar. "Ok so obviously the three of us took Clawdeen's death hard. We haven't told anyone other than Draculaura about her." She glares at Clawd, who winces slightly under her gaze. "Even she wasn't supposed to know but mouth of the south here blurted it out when he saw her."

"What was I supposed to do?! Clawdeen was her best friend!"

I noticed some people staring at us from across the room. "Never mind whats done is done. Anyway the reason we wanted to talk to you is because...ok look those of us who know about it are upset to say the least. The three of us are the only ones angry about it though."

"Loving the sword but I can't find the point." The hell did I just say?

"What? What does that mean?"

"Never mind what do you need me for? Are we just going to sit here and be angry about it?"

"No..." Howleen stands and pulls me to my feet with ease. "...The three of us are going to blow off some steam."

My eyes dart between them for a good ten seconds. "Ok...and how are gonna do this?"

A mischievous smile appears on both of their faces. "Well in case you hadn't noticed...there aren't any activities here good for blowing off steam. We can't fight anyone on account of all the guards."

Clawd steps away from the pillar "and I highly doubt that we will find enough booze to get us all drunk."

I shift my wight between my legs and start cracking my knuckles, a nervous habit of mine I picked up a couple hundred years ago. "I REALLY don't like where this is going guys...aww what the hell lay it on me."

"We're gonna sneak back into New Salem so we can find something to do."

I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh loudly. "Ok look...there's a shit ton of wine at my house. I'll go with you guys but only on a few conditions."

They look at me with eager eyes awaiting the rest of my sentence. "One: we DO NOT pick flights with the immortals. Two: we go in, get drunk and leave, it should only take a couple hours. Three: DO NOT tell Twyla. The real reason I'm going is so I can get real blood and not synthetic shit but she doesn't need to know. It will make her worried."

"That all?" Clawd says with crossed arms. I nod at them and we begin walking toward the main entrance to sneak out.

Vampires aren't very religious creatures, what with the whole crucifix thing, but I pray to god Guin and Twyla don't find out.

As we sneak out the main door and past the two guards I get a feeling this won't be so simple.

AN: I might put this story on temporary hiatus but I have every intention of finishing it. If you don't hear from me in three months I'm dead.

Top of Form 3

Bottom of Form 3


	11. Chapter 11: Blood, Booze 'n Broken Bones

**AN: WARNING LEAVE IF YOU DO NOT FIT UNDER THE MATURE AUDIENCE THIS STORY IS INTENDED FOR!**

**I realized something while writing this chapter. Nearly every chapter I've written for this starts off in my head as a fun outing but ultimately has to have a really dark part at some point. Enjoy that bit of knowledge when I get into chapters I planned to be dark from the beginning. **

**I'm gonna falcon punch y'all in the feels when I get to THAT chapter. **

**Connor's POV**

"Hey you two do you even know which direction New Salem is?"

"Of course we do! The nose knows."

I sigh after hearing the famous wolf siblings' catchphrase, I'd heard it about ten too many times while hanging out with those three.

Two now.

It's been about thirty minutes of us running through the forest dodging trees. I notice a particularly low overhanging branch and slide through the mud under it.

The air smells of approaching rain water from a storm that would more than likely help cover our presence.

"I still don't know how you two can smell your way back to town." Clawd turns around while swinging around a tree trunk laughing.

"Vampire's eyes are better than werewolves and werewolves smell better than vampires."

"Except when you're wet..." I whisper back earning a genuine laugh from the both of them.

Clawd and I have no trouble keeping up with one another but I notice Howleen lagging behind a little bit. The trees are growing very closely together in this forest so it takes more reflexes than speed to maneuver through it.

"Clawd slow down a bit or were going to lose Howleen." We both decelerate and align with the pink haired wolf who proceeds to leap ahead of us giggling like she was still a puppy.

"Oh you lying little-" my phone vibrates, interrupting my sentence. I check the caller ID and its none other than my favorite boogey monster. "Hey beautiful."

"Hey yourself handsome."

I chuckle lightly trying to balance not getting impaled by tree branches and talking to my ghoul AND keeping up with the werewolves a few feet in front of me. I feel my body become flushed with nervousness as it dawns on me she doesn't know we left. "Why are you calling...?"

"Oh right. I just wanted to know where you are...I can't find you guys anywhere...plus Sanguin said he "can't locate your mind due to interference from your meltdown" whatever that means..."

I choke partly from shock and partly from relief. I had once again forgotten about the partial soul bond and I'm lucky Guin can't use it...I'll most likely be killed by him if he finds out...

"We're uh...exploring and we...got...lost...yeah..." I duck as a tree branch is snapped back at my face from Clawd.

"Connor Produltiones...are you lying to me?" I wince slightly from her using my last name.

"...No."

"Ok...bye..."

"Bye, love you."

"I love you more." She hangs up before we can get in an argument about who loves who more. Probably better that way because I wouldn't let her win that battle.

I hate lying to her but... I promised these two and intend to follow through on that promise.

After continuous running, spinning, and leaping, we finally stop at the base of a hill and they begin to vigorously sniff the air around them. My nose may not be as good as there's, but I can also smell the familiar scent of pumpkins and sawdust from the town just over the hill. Weird, I smell smoke too.

"So were here" I say to no one I particular "How far from the base do you think we are?"

They both turn to me and Clawd begins to speak. "Hard to say with a hundred percent certainty, but if I had to guess I'd say we're AT LEAST five miles away from it but probably more." I nod mulling over the information in my head. The MDA set up relatively nearby to the town so they must be preparing to take it back very soon.

"Well lets go you two." Howleen begins to slowly walk up the hill, Clawd and I follow. When I get to the top and join them, my eyes widen at the scene before me. A fair distance away lies our hometown which is basically in ruins. Most of the buildings are no longer standing or have most of the walls burnt or collapsed. The few buildings that remain standing are flooded with people, both monster and human. There are about two dozen tents set up with the same situation. Monster high is visible quite a ways away from our perch and it seems to be being used by the immortals as a headquarters in New Salem, as there are a few dozen soldiers guarding it and the rest of the nearby town with terrifying efficiency. The fires have been put out but only recently, there is still a large amount of smoke coming from the town that burns my nostrils.

"This place...It looks like World War Two flew by and took a crap on it!" Clawd yells at the top of his lungs. I don't blame him, it's quite surprising to return to your hometown and find it in ruins. Not to mention he's right on the dot with his description.

"Keep your voice down!" I whisper harshly at him earning me a glare. "Someone will hear us and then we'll probably be captured by these freaks." I say gesturing with my thumb at the town swarming with immortals. He looks back towards the town and ducks behind the hill. I look at him with utter confusion plastered on my face, I'm yanked down by my ankle by the pink haired wolf and dragged behind the hill. "What the hell you stup-!" I'm interrupted by a death glare sent by Howleen's piercing red orbs which shuts me up. I've said it before, I'll say it again.

Scariest. Pup. Ever.

She silently gestures above the hill and motions for me to look slowly. As I poke my head above the mound of dirt, I see one of the Immortals and another person with their hands bound and a bag over their head about twenty yards away. The vampire dressed in the black uniform is listening to classical music, and is surprisingly a female with shoulder length blonde hair. The vampire forces the figure to their knees and pushes them up against a tree. She just stands there holding the hooded figure's face to the trunk, motionless and silent with the exception of her music blasting. She lowers her head next to the figure's ear and opens her mouth revealing two elongated fangs. "Say goodnight troublemaker." The figure begins to let out muffled cries of pure terror as the vampire brings her foot back for a kick.

I feel my self begin to stand up so I can walk over and stop this execution, but I'm held still by my two companions. I glare at them my eyes burning red and they stare back stubbornly with eyes of crimson. I stop struggling and return my attention back to the gruesome scene before me. The vampire has her left leg brought back behind her and her facade has turned into an evil grin. I can see her eyes fill with pleasure as she jumps and swings her leg around toward the person against the tree.

***CRACK***

She lands gracefully and runs back to the town full of glee. The figure's spine was snapped from the impact of the kick. She died instantly. I violently shake my friends off my shoulders and legs, rise to my feet, and walk over to the body. I stand there staring at it with a mixture of horror, anger, and guilt. Without thinking, I rip off the hood to reveal a young girl who can't be older than nineteen. She has mid length amber hair, pale white skin, and somber, gaping auburn eyes. There is a large amount of blood trickling from her right nostril down her face and neck. I stare at her lifeless form for what seems like forever. After awhile she begins to look like Twyla. I begin to shake with anger until both Clawd and Howleen restrain me.

"Calm down Connor." Clawd speaks to me with grim authority.

"I could have done something! She's dead because I didn't step in! Twyla is DEAD because of ME!" I feel my eyes shift again to purple as I'm on the verge of losing it.

Howleen looks at me with sadness. "Connor...that isn't Twyla...Twyla is fine." I look back at the girl against the tree, who has turned back into the amber haired girl and not my ghoul. I calm down and am released by the wolves. I sigh to myself and calmly walk over to the girl and close her eyes so she looks like she's sleeping. I drive my fist into the bark of the tree and drag my fingers down it in three separate areas. Howleen tries to pull me away from the tree "Connor what are you-" I shove her off of me and continue clawing at the tree."Asshole..." she growls as I toss the bark at them. I look at my fingers which are bloody and bruised. Clawd and Howleen catch the makeshift bark shovels I toss them and look at me with curiosity. "Dig..." I growl with a commanding tone as I drive my 'shovel' into the earth and drive it upward, soon followed by Clawd and Howleen.

After five minutes we've dug a hole deep enough for the petite girl to be buried in. I walk over to her and gesture for Clawd to follow. As we lower the nameless human before us into the cold embrace of the earth, I feel a sense of grief wash over me as I feel partly responsible for this stranger's death. After the grave has been filled, Howleen cuts through the silence hanging in the air. "Should we say a few words...?"

I remain silent while wearing a grim expression on my face as I think about the girl's terror before the face of death itself, and how her corpse morphed into my love right in front of me. "Someone else do it... I can't think of anything..." I mumble running my fingers through my short onyx hair.

Clawd clears his throat "Well uh...here lies...God I don't even know her name..." He pinches the bridge of his nose.

I feel the nervousness coming off of him and decide to speak up. "Her hair is amber colored so...here lies amber...none if us know anything about her except that she was murdered by a wicked person who is going to burn for what she has done. Amber probably had lots of people that cared about her and that will now never see her again. The only reminder will be the patch of flowers that will grow here in the future." As I finish my attempt at a eulogy, Howleen drives her tree bark 'shovel' into the ground improvising a head stone. She had carved what I said into it with her claws. It was then that I realized two things, one: I need blood ASAP and two: The three of us needed to get severely drunk ASAP.

"Come on" I say beginning to walk towards Guin's house "I need a drink."

As we clear the trees I hear Howleen, who is ahead of Clawd and I, gasp at the sight of the house. I run up beside her to see what was wrong and what I find doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Every window is broken with glass surrounding nearly every inch of the house, there are several piles of ash no doubt marking the corpses of deceased vampires, the walls are riddled with holes of varying sizes which I assume to be bullet holes, the front door has been blasted off of its hinges and the doorway is blocked by a pile of rubble. I notice the splintered wooden remains of Guin's recently deceased front door lying roughly ten feet away next to three more piles of vampire ash.

"My god... What the hell happened here?" Howleen wonders out loud with a paw over her mouth.

I analyze the scene to the best of my ability taking in every tiny detail. The place where Guin's room lies reeks of silver rounds embedded in the wood work. In fact from outside, every room does with the exception of mine. "The night the immortals invaded, Guin came here looking for me, probably with Twyla's dad too. While Guin was inside, the Immortals got the drop on him and shot up the house with silver rounds. I'm assuming you two can smell all the silver in that place right?" I look away from the house to see them holding their noses with their eyes watering. "I'll take that as a yes. By some miracle, that miracle being Guin is one tough bastard, he survived the hail of silver death being thrown at him then blasted the door out ward to distract the soldiers where he proceeded to slaughter them. In the process one of them tossed an explosive, probably a fragmentation grenade, that leveled the doorway."

"How did you figure all that our so quickly?" Clawd asks coughing from the stench of silver. I think for a moment because in all honesty I haven't the slightest. It's like I was watching the whole scene unfold before me with holograms.

"Just a guess." I reply with a shrug as I begin to walk toward the door way. As I analyze the rubble to see if it would be safe to move, I hear the wolf siblings fall into a sneezing fit. "Are you two gonna do that all night?" I ask after a few seconds of the continuous sneezing.

*ACHOO* "Fuck" *ACHOO* "You, you're" *ACHOO* "A dick!" Howleen yells between sneezes. I walk over to one of the trees near the house chuckling, and yank a few of the leaves off it after sniffing them. "Here smell these for a bit." I say passing the leaves to both of them.

*ACHOO* "What are they?" Clawd asks hesitantly as he rolls them around in his paw.

"They're mint leaves, if you sniff those for a little bit, they should mask the scent of the silver. It's going to rain soon, and I'd rather be inside."

The siblings look at each other hesitantly before rubbing their noses in the leaves and inhaling deeply. "Better?" I ask raising an eyebrow at them, they nod at the same time. "Great come on."

When we get to where the front door used to be, Howleen speaks up. "How are we going to get inside?"

"We go in through the window. Doors are for people with no imagination anyway."

"...you're weird, you know that?"

"No I'm eccentric. Weird is eating grass when you have a tummy ache."

"I told you that in confidence! I mean...*grrrr*...shut your pale skinny ass up. Dick." Howleen growls as she begins to pout. I tilt my head to signal for them to follow me to the window next to us. "Hmmm..." I mumble examining the window sill which appears to be free of glass shards.

Satisfied, I get ready to climb up into the house. "WAIT!" Howleen yells, a little too late as my hand plunges down on the splintered wood I somehow failed to notice, which was stupid of me. "AHHHHH! SUAVIS DRACULA IN CUCULLO A MERCEDES BENZ! DOLET SICUT INFERNUS!" I yell in Latin as I back away from the house holding my right hand. I look down to see about four pieces of wood ranging from a few millimeters, to several inches in length, jabbed into the palm of my hand. The wounds are gushing blood and are steaming, causing me to hiss in pain revealing my now elongated fangs.

Here's the thing about vampires and wooden stakes: as long as it is wooden, pointy, and pierces a vampires skin, it's going to be the same as a wooden stake. Now it won't kill a vampire, unless it pierces the brain or heart, but the wounds from any type of wood piercing the flesh hurt more and take longer to heal.

"FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK GET THEM OUT! THIS HURTS!" I scream at Howleen. As she runs over and grabs my arm, I feel my eyes changing to purple from the pain. "Quit moving around! Be still you big baby!" She yells plucking the wood from my hand piece by piece as Clawd has lost control of himself and is now rolling on the ground laughing his ass off.

"There." She says pulling the last splinter from my hand. The wounds continue to gush blood as they slowly close, leaving behind a few faint white scars that will disappear in a few days. "THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" I yell hugging Howleen in a haze of pain induced stupidity. "Hey! Get off of me! Why are you yelling?!"

"IT HUR-I mean it hurts sorry..." I choke out returning to the window sill. I remove my jacket and drape it over the side so we can use it to climb through. As the last one of us lands inside, my nostrils are once again assaulted by the metallic smell of silver and dried blood. "Come on" I mutter heading for the stairs leading to the basement "Basements this way."

When we get to the armory I hear Clawd gasp with joy. "This place is... Amazing...! There are so many pieces of history here!" I chuckle at his comment. "Yeah... This is one of my favorite rooms in the house... I'm surprised most of the stuff is still here..." I notice them both start to sniff their mint leaves again. I don't know how I never noticed it before, but most of the blades in this room have silver worked into the edge and core. Weird.

The sight of the wine room nearly makes me cry like a baby. Most of the bottles have been shattered, both wine and the sweet sweet blood coat the floor. There are four or five wine bottles left and one blood bottle on it's side with most of the contents spilling out on the floor. The smell of the blood invades my nose and I'm sucked into a frenzy of hunger.

I pounce on the remaining bottle of blood and down the contents. The liquid tastes like the sweetest apple pie on the planet mixed with a salty undertone. As I'm drinking my mind drifts to Twyla and what her blood tastes like...Probably even sweeter than this... As my head is in the clouds, my mind drifts further into more intimate thoughts of Twyla and what her blood will taste like...

"Dude! Snap out of it!" I'm brought back to reality by Clawd's booming voice. I stop what I'm doing, which happens to be lapping up blood off of the floor. The knees on my pants and my shoes are soaked with a delightful mixture of blood and wine. "Uh...sorry about that..." I murmur standing up and licking the liquid off my hands. After grabbing three bottles off of the shelves, I hand two to Clawd and Howleen. "Let's head upstairs to drink... Basement is a little wet. Guys? If you like history than Guin has a ton of stuff in the attic."

"Whatever's good with me." Howleen says after a swig from her bottle.

"Are you kidding? That would be clawsome!"

"Okay then...you must really like history Clawd." All he does for a reply is nod vigorously.

The attic is, like most attics, the highest room in the house. The room is full of old government propaganda, sports memorabilia, and a bunch of stuff from when Guin served in the armed forces. "Wow" Howleen exclaims with a slur. Her bottle his already half empty already. "How did Guin get all this military stuff?" The room has items relating to all of the armed forces, but the room is predominately Marine Corps things, mainly posters with slogans. "Guin has served in every branch of the military. Every time he changed, he would pick a new alias and when he was done serving he would keep his dog tags and fake his own death. Obviously his favorite branch has been the Marines. Before we moved to Ireland, he always would bring me up here and tell me war stories. Whenever I asked him WHY he did it he would just tell me he liked killing 'bad people'" I walk around the room and gather a few boxes for us to sit on, and one to use as a table. I stumble upon one box labeled 'Clara's things'. Clara was my mother's name. I can't tear into the box fast enough and what I find is slightly disappointing. The bottom of the box is covered by dust with a dark purple scarf lying inside which must have belonged to my mother. The scarf smells like me surprisingly. My mom must have used this to keep me warm a lot when...she was still around... I don't have much use for it but maybe Twyla would like it, so I stuff it into my back pocket to give to her later. I look back into the box to see if I missed anything and a spot that's dust free catches my eye. It looks about the same size of a letter but it's missing. Guin must have removed it.

After I sit down I'm followed by Clawd who sits in his chair, and Howleen who sort of collapses into hers. Clawd has some wine missing from the bottle, I still haven't touched mine. "So...do we want to toast?" I ask uncorking the bottle and tossing it to the far corner of the room next to a few rolled up posters. Clawd and Howleen nod in silent agreement.

Howleen leads the toast, which is surprising because she's the most drunk right now. "To Clawdeen... a role model..."

"...Sister..." Clawd says bringing his bottle up to Howleen's

"...And friend." I finish and bring my drink to there's with a loud clank. "Cheers." I mutter before chugging down the bottle in my hands. After I look back, everything is fuzzy and distorted even my hearing. I can see the other two are having a similar experience as they have looks of bliss with a mixture of slight confusion. "Heyyouguys wannaknowa good idea?" I say with a heavy slur.

"Heh. You sound funny. What idea did you have?" Howleen says giggling.

"I think uh...I forgot...lets sing a song!"

"Ooooh yeah. I'll start! 99 bottles of...uh I forget the rest..." Clawd gurgles nearly falling off his box. I think Guin put something in these bottles to make monsters drunk faster... Good thing too.

My mind clears slightly when I hear the sound of the barricade in the doorway being blasted aside. I hear several sets of footsteps running up the stairs, then three Immortals enter the room. One of them is the blonde one with the classical music.

**_Kill _**the voice in my head orders me.

I rise as my friends are being restrained with bags over their heads. One of them, who is a creepy looking male vampire starts to whisper in Howleen's ear. "Mmm this one will do nicely. I think I'll have some fun with her before we send her off to the silver mines." Clawd absolutely loses it after that and gets up, but is close lined by the third vampire and restrained with silver handcuffs.

I run at the blonde one, but she just pulls out a baretta M9 and shoots me in the knee caps, causing me to fall down screaming in pain. She calmly walks over to me, with an evil grin on her face, she pulls out a silver dagger and proceeds to slice both my Achilles' tendons and the backs of my knees. "AAAAAHHHH! YOU BITCH!" The silver embedded in my legs burns like a furnace. Not to mention I've just been shot. Twice. And cut up like a bloomin onion. Twice.

Clawd and Howleen have quit struggling and lie motionless and silent. My vision begins to blur, threatening a blackout. A real one, not the cool kind where I get super powers. I notice through my haze, a large man walk into the attic causing the other three vampires to stand at attention and offer a salute. The man is at least seven feet tall with long, spiky, jet black hair that flows down past his shoulder blades. His eyes are an intense crimson and the armor he wears matches in color. The armor looks like something a roman officer would have worn minus the helmet, and add an intricately designed cape with a hood, and emblazoned upon the breast plate is a very detailed version of the Immortal's patch. The pentagram blocking out the sun with a single drop of blood centered upon it. His voice is booming and powerful, sending shivers down his subordinate's spines. "Greetings Connor, I am lord Mevolkihar. I'm glad we could finally meet. You're going to come with us on a little trip across town."

What? What is he talking about?

**_GET UP! GET UP AND FIGHT YOU FOOL! FIGHT FOR HER!_** Not now! Be quiet!

"Of course you'll need to sleep for the trip." He says as he brings his boot up above my face. "Goodnight." He says slamming his foot down and plunging me into darkness.

**Twyla's POV**

I sigh setting my phone down for the fourth time in the last five minutes. It's been over two hours since I last spoke to Connor and I'm starting to get worried because I can't find him anywhere. I guess it's just part of our relationship, but whenever I'm apart from him for too long I feel physically weaker... Not to mention I miss him.

"I swear Connor if you have gotten yourself into trouble I'm going to kill you..." I mutter to the emptiness of the room.

***KNOCK* *KNOCK*** "Twyla? Are you decent?" It's dad's voice.

"Yes come in. Door's unlocked." He charges in with Sanguin close by, Dad's panting and Guin has a panicked look in his eyes.

"Do you know where Connor is?!" Guin yells at the top of his lungs.

"N-no... I don't...wait is he alright!? Tell me everything's fine and he's alright!" I start to become hysterical, as my mind drifts to the worst possible outcome.

"We don't know dear. I'm sure he's fine but... Did he say anything about where he was going?"

"No... He Clawd and Howleen left a while ago."

Guin starts frantically pacing and running his fingers through his hair. He's making me even more nervous than I already am. He nearly drops his phone when it rings as he tries to answer it. "Yes? Okay... WHAT?! Tell me you're screwing with me! O-okay *sigh* get a team ready. Bring up mine and Bleach's weapon kits along with three flack jackets." He turns off the phone visibly fuming. "That half baked, adolescent, self endangering, suicidal maniac!" He screams clenching his fists into oblivion.

He's really making me worried now. "I-is he a-alright...?" I ask with tears forming at the corners of my eyes.

"He went back into New Salem." Guin sighs pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Viper...why did you request THREE flack jackets..?" Dad asks with obvious uneasiness.

"We need to bring Twyla with us. She can help subdue Connor."

"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

"Do you want whatever the Immortals want to become reality?!"

Dad sighs and shakes his head. "Good. Now lets go. There are ten other agents waiting for us by the door.

A wave of pure dread washes over me and I utter a single near silent sentence. "Connor... Please be okay... "

**Connor's POV**

_My eyes shoot open to the sound of a murder of crows flying away. I sit up and look at my surroundings. I'm in a forest of some kind lying on a stone path going through it with trees on either side. Everything has a lilac hue to it, like I'm wearing purple tinted sunglasses. I stand up and notice I'm wearing a navy blue three piece suit. The next thing that I notice is my body is encased in energy similar to the red energy, but instead of bubbling around my body, this energy seems to be dancing and swirling in random directions. Also different is the fact that the energy is purple, matching the state of my eyes. _

_I feel the urge to walk forward along the path, so I follow my instincts. The path seems to go on forever. The air smells...dirty...like some underground prison would, though I haven't been in many of those so I don't know. The trees split apart into a clearing, revealing two figures in the distance standing next to a white archway covered with flowers. At closer inspection one of the figures is Twyla. She looks absolutely breathtaking no...I'm at a loss, words cannot describe her beauty right now. She's wearing a strapless dark blue wedding dress with purple and black swirls covering over half of the dress. Oddly enough, her eyes and tattoos are glowing a solid purple like mine. Finally, and possibly her most beautiful feature, two black, shadowy, angel wings have sprouted from her back through her dress, slowly flapping. _

_I approach Twyla and the figure, it's not until I'm standing next to Twyla that I realize the figure is merely the silhouette of a man holding a...Bible...Twyla laces her fingers through mine and squeezes my hand smiling brightly. I can't help but slowly reveal my fangs in a wide grin. The nervousness she's feeling is highly conspicuous but it also mixes with excitement. The priest turns to me and speaks with a rattling, whisper of a voice. "Do you Connor Produltiones take Twyla Slenderman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, through sickness and in health, for rich or for poor, as long as you both shall live?"_

_I look towards her and its not even hard to decide. "I do."_

_"And do you, Twyla Slenderman take Connor Produltiones to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, through sickness and in health, for rich or for poor, as long as you both shall live?"_

_"Of course I do." She says rolling her eyes. Her voice sounds slightly ethereal, but it's still beautiful._

_"Then by the power invested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Twyla presses her lips to mine faster then my eyes can detect. I feel my eyes close as I'm absorbed by her sweet tasting lips. The kiss seems to last forever and it's the best feeling in the world. When I open my eyes the world has shifted around us. The forest has been replaced with our apartment, minus the hole in the wall. The priest is no where in sight. After the kiss breaks I look down and am surprised by the sight before me. Twyla looks exactly the same, wings and all. The energy still surrounds my body but the purple hue is gone. As our lips meet again Twyla gently starts to move my hands to the zipper of her dress. Taking the hint, I begin to slowly unzip it, and when I can't pull it down anymore, I start to slide the dress off and begin kissing Twyla's neck, causing her to gasp and catch her breath. Her heart beat is erratic which further fuelsmy arousal as I start to nibble on her neck, gently dragging my fangs across her warm flesh._

_About two minutes later both of us are half naked and lying on one if the beds. "Twyla wait..." I say with her straddling me._

_"What is it?" She mutters sounding very irritated._

_"If you're sure you want to do this...I want to do it right... So are you okay with?..." I gesture to her neck asking permission to properly mate with her. She kisses me again and then tilts her head to the side._

_I place my fangs against the flesh of her neck, right up against her jugular. Finally I plunge my fangs into her neck, eliciting another moan from her. Vampire saliva not only calms the victim, but also activates the pleasure center of the brain, so im mot surprised by her reaction. Her blood is the most glorious thing I have ever tasted, the feeling of feeding from her is better than drugs. Her love is like a drug to me. After I'm done feeding, I lick the holes from my fangs closing them up. This sends shivers throughout her body._

_I reach up and undue her bra letting it slide off of her shoulders exposing her body to me. She leans her head down and we're lip locked in an instant. As we're exploring one another's mouths my glorious dream is ended when I'm brought to reality._

**Connor's POV**

I wake up in a dark, rusty, metal room with a cage door leading out to an open arena with a viewing platform. I see that large vampire... Mevolkihar... I think is what he called himself. He's standing on the viewing platform with several other vampires standing around him. Above them is a cage with Howleen and Clawd in it fully conscious.

"Glad to see you're awake! Now...I know we haven't been properly acquainted but I want a demonstration of your abilities. In this arena there are a few dozen opponents for you to fight against." He snaps his fingers and six stadium lights flash on revealing that he was telling the truth. "They are hardened criminals from prisons all over the world. There crimes range from murder, to assault and battery, to rape. They are scum. But if you lot..." He gestures to the group of human gladiators "...manage to kill him anyone still standing will be set free and have all previous crimes removed from their records." There was a murmur of excitement from this news.

I feel my nervousness start to set in. I can hold my own against several humans at once, but not this many. Plus these men are armed to the teeth with vampire killing tools. Mostly hatchets, daggers, and other bladed weapons but most everyone in the front has a pistol no doubt loaded with silver rounds. I panic and search for a way out. There isn't one so I guess my best option is to fight. I think of Twyla and how devastated she would be if I went and died and that fills me with strength.

Mevolkihar smiles wickedly. "You may begin." He snaps his fingers twice and the gate flies open. I look around for a weapon and notice a loose pipe on the wall. It's easy to break off a four foot section of it and step out side of my cell to face my enemies, baring my fangs and growling. Some of them glance at each other nervously. Good, uneasiness in the group will even the playing field a bit. The largest one speaks up with a heavy Russian accent. "I think the boy should just surrender. He has pipe. We have guns. Therefore we will win." He glances around nodding at his own words and cocking the hammer of his pistol.

**_We both want to get out of this alive so were going to try to demoralize them. Repeat after me._**

Normally I wouldn't listen to HIM but desperate times call for desperate measures. "No. What you have are bullets and the hope that when you are out of bullets, I will no longer be standing. Because if I am...you all will die." Wow really original. You ripped that out of V for Vendetta.

**_I'm sorry did you have a better plan? Besides it worked didn't it?_**

He's right. Their confidence has dropped significantly. This must be what Batman feels like. I feel I need to drive the message home so I bare my fangs and charge the nearest opponent screaming bloody murder.

***BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG***

***BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG***

***BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG***

***BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG***

***BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG***

***BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG**

***BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG***

***BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG***

***BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG***

My body stops convulsing after every firearm has been exhausted of ammo. As I lie dying in a pool of my own blood with hundreds of silver bullets peppered throughout my body, I feel strangely at peace as I think of all of my friends. But I mostly think of Twyla.

**_Let me out! I can help you survive you fool! LET ME OUT SO WE CAN SEE HER AGAIN!_**

F-fine j-j u-just this o-once.

A shockwave sends several enemies, and every bullet in my body, flying and half of the roof gets blasted away letting moonlight in. I lose consciousness as the bonds holding back the demon within me shatter.

I almost feel sorry for them. Almost.

**Twyla's POV**

Our group is currently running through the forest towards Sanguin's house, the location of Connor's cellphone signal. It's hard to run in this vest and helmet, but dad wouldn't let me leave without it. He also insisted I wear his mask because he didn't want me to be seen. I voiced my concerns at someone seeing him but he merely brushed it off saying its hard to recognize someone with no face. The funny thing is, that's his most memorable feature.

I wipe the tears streaming from my face away as I think of Connor. "S-Sanguin?"

He looks back at me, still running, with a calm expression on his face, though he is obviously upset, due to the fact I can see his fangs poking out from his top lip. "What is it?"

*sniff* "I-Is C-Connor going t-to be a-a-alr-right?"

He sighs and his expression turns grim. "I can't guarantee what we find will be good... It is just his cell phone signal." I feel my will begin to crumble. Guin, in the short time I've known him, has normally been accurate in what he says. "But... I highly doubt the Immortals would have killed him. They want him for something... I don't know what but I'm going to find out."

When we get to the house, Guin doesn't seem phased in the slightest to see his house in ruins. I'm not surprised, Connor always said the man could wake up suspended over a volcano and just sigh and calmly kill the person who put him there. "Alright everyone, this is where the signal was emitted from. Spread out and find Connor Produltiones!" The group of soldiers following along with us simply nod in silence and walk the perimeter of the house. The group consists mainly of humans but there are a few vampires and werewolves, and even a gargoyle sprinkled throughout it. I decide to stick with Guin and my dad as they head into the house. "Something doesn't feel right here..." Dad mutters nervously to his partner.

"Yeah, I feel it too. Hmmm..." He stands still and we stop as his eyes turn purple and the veins within them bulge. "...Attic...one hostile...armed..."

"That's amazing..." I exclaim to him "how did you know that?"

"I hear a woman groaning in pain. I'm assuming she's an Immortal since I'm not dating anyone at the moment. She's armed because I heard her load a pistol when we entered the house."

I feel my heart sink and be absorbed by my anxiety. "So...no Connor..."

He shakes his head sadly and places a comforting hand on my shoulder. "No Connor. But we're going to find out where they took him, from our friend upstairs. Lets go."

When we get up to the attic entrance Dad and Guin stop and ready their weapons. "Stay. Put." Dad whispers harshly to me before they run into the attic. I hear some scuffling and a woman with a German accent shouting at Guin and my dad. "You can come up now." Dad chides from in the attic. When I enter I see dad standing in the center of the room with his shotgun pointed at the blonde vampire's head, which seems a little unnecessary because she's tied up with Guin pressing a silver dagger to her throat. I hear music coming from ear buds around the tied up vampire's ears.

"Feel free to look around Twyla, there's some neat stuff in here. Take anything you'd like." Guin says giving me a genuine smile. It disappears when he looks back at his prisoner, glaring. "All right miss..." He takes the knife and jams it into her knee causing her to scream and snap at Guin's face. His facade remains stern and composed. "...What did you do with MY NEPHEW!" He pulls out the dagger and stabs her left arm with with each word.

I feel bile begin to rise in my throat and turn away, scanning the room with my lilac orbs. It's full of old posters and old things from the early 1900s to the 1970s. While they're cool I don't really want them for myself. I continue to scan the room and as I'm about to stop looking and leave, my eye stops on a splatter of blood. I can't tell who's blood it is, but I fear it's Connor's. but what really interests me is the balled up scarf lying next to the blood, along with a large folding knife and Connor's phone. I gingerly pick up the scarf and move it around in my hands, examining it. My eyes begin to freely flow with liquid sorrow as I realize he intended to give this to me. It's rather feminine, something he wouldn't wear, it's my favorite color, but what really gives it away is it smells just like he does. Like cinnamon and worn leather.

His scent helps to dissipate my sadness as I remove the mask and wrap it several times around my neck and let it cover my face. It's cold outside anyway, and this scarf is a hell of a lot warmer than dad's mask. I grab the knife and examine it after I open it. The knife is Connor's. He showed it to me once, it's a black folding knife with a blade about five inches long. He described the blade as being 'tanto point'. Satisfied, I shove the knife into my back pocket.

The whole time I was looking, Guin was still interrogating the female vampire. "Last time. I'm done being nice. Tell me where he is and what happened..." He slices her shoulder and moves the tip of the knife to the opening in her ear. "...or you'll never enjoy music ever again."

"Okay! I'll talk, just please don't take my hearing."

He remains unmoved. "We'll see. Talk."

"We came in to capture the boy and the mutts. We had all three of them tied down, but somehow the male werewolf broke free and attacked me. He wounded me pretty badly, so the group left me here, the bastards. They took tall dark and handsome to Monster High's catacombs, something about 'testing his abilities' or some shit. That's all I know. So you're gonna let me go right?"

Her eyes widen when Guin slowly shakes his head, never breaking eye contact. He pulls a revolver out of his coat and presses it to her temple. "Burn in hell." He gives dad enough time to cover my eyes and guide me out of the attic before he pulls the trigger, causing a loud splat that was heard throughout the house. Guin calmly walks out brushing himself off. Dad turns to me as I hand him his mask which he stuffs into his coat pocket. "You really love this boy don't you?"

I nod vigorously while wiping tears out of my eyes. "Yes daddy, I really do."

He lets out a fake sigh. "Lets go get the idiot back then, I suppose. He better take good care of you when I'm gone. Oh and sweetie?"

"Y-Yeah dad?"

"I know you two sleep together, but if he gets you pregnant before marrying you, I. Will. Kill him."

"Dad!" I yell my cheeks turning a dark shade of blue from the thought of having a child with Connor. It's embarrassing but... I do want to start a family with him once all this blows over.

Guin cheerfully walks up behind him and claps a hand on his shoulder. "And I will help him kill Connor! He's way too self destructive to be fathering a child. Not to mention you two shouldn't be having sex anyway."

**Sanguin's POV**

This is where that woman told us Connor would be. We're outside Monster High and walking around the courtyard looking for an alternative entrance to bypass the Immortals inside the school. None of them have spotted us...so far so good I suppose. "Viper" one of the agents accompanying us asks "where is the VIP located?"

"I'm not sure. Have your men split up into two groups and comb the area for an entrance into the catacombs."

He gives a crisp salute and runs off to carry out my orders. Sam and Twyla are a ways ahead of me. Twyla has removed the helmet claiming it was 'giving her a headache'. She has my sister in law's scarf wrapped around her neck and covering her mouth. If I know Connor, he was probably going to give that to her anyway. It smells just like him, even without heightened scent. Clara would always wrap him up in it when he was a baby. Kris and I always tried to tell her that vampire babies don't need to stay warm, but she always doted over Connor.

I miss those times before the...incident...that brought Connor under my care. I love the little moron but...I miss Kris and Clara. "How are you holding up little shadow?" I ask Twyla who is currently unaware of my presence.

"Oh hi Sanguin. I'm fine... I just want to find Connor already! I'm worried sick. I actually threw up before we got here."

"We'll find him dear, don't you worry. He's very important to both the MDA and the Immortals which means we won't stop until he's rescued and they won't kill him." Idiot! He gave away too much and he knows it!

"Why does the MDA want Connor...?" Twyla asks, her voice taking a suspicious, and slightly hostile, undertone.

"He's a citizen of the United States and the Immortals are terrorists. We're just doing our job but they've gone and made it personal." I proclaim glaring at Sam. "Now lets-"

**(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)**

**(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)**

**(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)**

**(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)**

**(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)**

**(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)**

**(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)(*bang*)**

"-what on earth?" Those were gunshots coming from...BELOW us.

"What is it Viper?"

"I could have sworn I heard gunshots coming from underground. Get some shovels and start d-" I'm cut off mid sentence by a large explosion from roughly twenty yards away.

I look over in the direction of the explosion and notice a gaping hole in the ground. "Is everyone alright?" Twyla is slowly being helped up by Sam. She has an excited, but nervous, look in her eye. She has a significantly larger amount of magic radiating off of her right now then she did before. I knew she was gifted but she has almost as energy as Connor does when he's powered up...I'll have to look into that later but right now we have bigger problems.

As we approach the hole I hear something that sends chills pulsating through my entire being. I hear Connor's voice only in his powered up state, but he is speaking an unknown language. **"FIIK TUL UCALA? TU MALA DESTRONEMA!" **

No...it can't be...did he let it loose?

As we peer over the edge of the hole that leads to a large arena like room roughly three hundred feet down, I can see Connor and about fifteen men standing across from one another. There are also several dead humans who appeared to have been shot. His werewolf friends, Clawd and Howleen I think we're their names, are suspended in a cage above the scene. Below them is a platform with several vampires observing Connor, one is significantly larger than the others. His face is covered by a blood red hood, but...no it can't be HIM. Not here. The hooded vampire slowly turns his head to me, meeting my gaze with solid crimson orbs. I know those eyes anywhere, it's not just the pupils that are solid red, but his entire eye. It's him...

He recognizes me too, when he looks at me he just grins evilly at me as he waves a hand, bringing up a force field that flashes red then vanishes. "Viper... That's him isn't it?" My gaze hardens as I pull out my sidearm and begin firing at Mevolkihar with cold, deadly, precision. Every single damn shot bounces harmlessly off his shield that's enveloped the entire arena.

"AHHHHH! Damn it!" I scream, throwing my side arm to the ground. My hands burst into flame and I start chucking fireballs at the shield. Nothing. Lightning? Nothing. Ice? Nothing. He just laughs and returns his burning gaze back to Connor. The wolf siblings have awoken and are trying to break the cage.

Connor is hunched over, as if in pain, and is covered in red, pulsating, energy. The remains of his jacket and shirt, which he has cast to the ground, are covered in holes same as his pants but those aren't nearly as bad. I can see a ton of blood covering his body, though no wounds are visible. Seeing him like this must be horrible for Twyla, she's sitting at the edge of the drop clutching herself and quietly sobbing but watching him with alert eyes. Her tattoos and eyes are glowing the same color as the energy surrounding Connor.

Connor shakily rises and I notice that he isn't wearing a maniacal grin like normal. His face is calm and calculating, but at the same time sends shivers throughout my body. Every fiber of my being is telling me to get as far away from him as vampirely possible. I refocus on him as he slowly walks towards the nearest human and rests his hands on the man's cheeks. The man is obviously terrified, as he has just emptied his bowels.

Connor just stands there staring at the man, when finally the grin I'm so accustomed to flashes into existence on Connor's face. He jerks his arms up and the man's now severed head goes flying through the air. Our party, and the large group of humans, watch in horror as Connor picks up the man's body and suspends him upside down pouring the blood gushing from his neck into Connor's awaiting maw. He casts the drained corpse aside and faces the group of humans who ready their weapons. He cracks his knuckles and neck with that grin still there. Connor opens his mouth to speak, but only that strange language comes out. **"Cu nanca?"** They look at him, obviously perplexed. Connor clears his throat and opens his mouth again**. "How silly of me, you don't speak my language. I said, 'Who's next?' No volunteers? Alright I guess I'll start calling on random students."** He calmly picks up a piece of pipe lying on the ground and snaps it with his boot, creating a jagged point.

**"Pay attention worms. I'm only gonna do this once." **He dashes for the nearest opponent at near light speed and jams the pipe into his throat. As his opponent falls to his knees, Connor flips around and twists the pipe breaking the man's neck. The group has finally come to their senses and begin to attack Connor. He ducks dodging the swing of a sword and brings a fist up into his opponents jaw shattering it like glass. Another human jumps on Connor's back and jams a silver dagger into his heart, but gets thrown off. Connor still has his arm in one hand and twists it quickly. Connor's arm begins to glow brighter and black flames begin spreading throughout the mans body, turning him to ash. One idiot rushes Connor unarmed, Connor dodges every punch and then grabs the man's throat and sweeps a leg underneath him. His throat gets crushed as he hits the floor. Two more have reloaded their pistols and shot every round at Connor. Not even I detect the movement as he dodges almost every bullet and catches ten others in between his fingers. The looks on their faces is priceless as Connor throws the bullets back at the shooters and several other humans. Everything I just described happened within fifteen seconds. Now only five of the largest humans remains. Connor removes the dagger from his back and telekinetically throws the dagger into ones head. Four. Connor gets ready to leap to another target but freezes at the sound of a hammer being pulled back. "Don't move you-you-you monster!" The man has a revolver pressed to the back of Connor's skull. Connor very slowly turns his head toward the man. When he makes eye contact the man freezes. Connor's pupils begin to spin then the man starts screaming and runs away from Connor. He begins beating his head against the stone floor before inserting the gun into his mouth and pulling the trigger. Three. One grabs Connor from behind and presses a cattle prod into his groin, while another grabs the dagger from his friends head and starts repeatedly stabbing Connor in the Torso causing him to howl in pain. "DIE YOU FREAK! DIE ALREADY! WHY! WON'T! YOU! DIE! DAMN YOU!" Connor's energy gets duller with each thrust of the knife blade.

Twyla begins to sob even harder. "They're killing him! We have to do something!" She runs over to me and begins shaking my shoulders vigorously. "Do something! They're killing him!" She moves to Sam and gives him the same treatment. "Daddy! Please do something! I-I don't want to live without him!" The human who was stabbing Connor runs over to the human who shot himself and grabs his gun. He places the barrel to Connor's forehead and pulls back the hammer.

"NO!" Twyla screams before she disappears and reappears behind the man with the gun.

"Twyla!" Sam screams as he beats against the force field.

"Get away from him you bastard!" She yells with an ethereal voice before thrusting Connors folding knife into his heart and throwing him to the ground. Her tattoos and eyes have started glowing brighter than before and she has sprouted...orange angel wings from her back? The one holding Connor turns and runs away, reeking with fear. She grips the knife with shadows and chucks it into his spine causing him to collapse. Twyla turns her attention to Connor, helping him sit up. Connor stares at her before speaking in that weird language. **"Min-Min ta cur Teola?"**

She appears to have understood perfectly, as she nods and replies in the same language. "**Aie. Ta cur Ultios." **She coos turning Connor's energy green as she kisses him softly and brings him into a hug. The remaining human is shot in the head by one of the vampires. The vampire walks up behind the two of them as Mevolkihar watches with curiosity. When he gets too close and pulls a gun on Twyla, Connor's energy turns red again, and he charges for the vampire, his fist being engulfed with more black flames and he thrusts it into the vampire's chest ripping out his heart. He snaps his fingers and it turns to ash. Connor then looks to the viewing platform, his mind set on killing, and casts the dying vampire aside before biting his thumb, drawing blood, and quickly draws an ancient rune on the ground that starts glowing a deep blue. The sky opens up and the rain begins to pour down, soaking everyone within seconds. Mevolkihar just watches with even more curiosity while his companions have started shifting nervously. Connor raises his right hand, points at them and his eyes narrow. The smell of ozone fills the air, and my hair stands on end. Connor raises his other hand towards the sky as a bolt of lightning shoots down from the heavens and strikes his arm. It travels throughout his body before being redirected out his other hand towards the Immortals. Mevolkihar calmly raises a hand and catches the lightning, letting it compact into a ball. He throws the now red lightning ball back towards Connor and it hits him square in the chest, knocking him down to one knee. Mevolkihar and the others then disappear into a cloud of smoke. Connor lets out an animalistic howl, and the energy from the lightning is shot out of his open maw towards the sky, causing it to light up like midday.

After he is done panting, Connor calmly walks back to Twyla and embraces her again. He's actually started sobbing with relief, as if he hadn't seen her in years. She continues to whisper sweetly in his ear, calming him. He finally goes limp against her form and she gently lays him on the ground. She speaks again in her ethereal voice. "Thank you for letting me do that child. I return control of your body back to you." With her final word her tattoos and eyes stop glowing and her wings dissipate. The force field disappears and Sam and I jump down. Sam rushes for Twyla and pulls her into a suffocating hug "Don't EVER scare me like that again!" He releases her and she gets a look of confusion on her face. "W-What happened? Why are you two looking at me like that?"

"Twyla...you mean you don't remember?" I ask, my voice filling with concern.

She grabs her head with a pained expression on her face. "I remember a woman telling me she could save Connor, but she would only help if I wanted her too. I told her to help and after that...nothing."

"Curious...very curious..." This day just keeps getting more and more interesting. We really dodged a bullet today. Twyla looks to a steaming Connor and gasps. "He's okay. He's just over exerted himself." As soon as she grabs his hand, he starts to shake violently. As if he were having a seizure.

"W-Whats happening to him?!" She screams shaking him by the shoulders.

"I-I don't know...! He appears to be going into cardiac arrest but...that's impossible! His heart doesn't beat to begin with!" Connor goes limp again, but this time something's different. He's dead.

"Connor? C-Connor!? Wake up! Don't die damn it!" She begins to sob on his chest again when he doesn't move. "Please...Don't...don't leave me...please...please...don't DIE!" She slams her hands onto his chest, right over his heart, and her tattoos start glowing green. Shadows engulf his entire torso and his muscles all contract at once. He then lays still again. I don't know how but he's now alive. With his eyes still closed, he pulls Twyla to his mouth to whisper something before slipping into a deep sleep. "Twyla...relax...I'm not...going...to...leave...your side...ever...as long as...you...need...me...I'll be there...for...you...talk to you in...a couple...days..."

**AN: Wow that was a rush. This chapter took over two weeks to write and I'm glad with how it turned out! Hope it was worth the wait.**

**Sanguin: I have a question.**

**Me: yes?**

**Sanguin: why do all the major werewolf characters have names that are wolf puns?**

**Me: I guess because...monster high is intended for children? Besides look who's talking. Your name is latin for blood.**

**Sanguin: I see. If Monster High is for children, why do you watch it?**

**Me: I'm only a teenager on the outside. Like Connor, I'm like, only three as far as maturity goes.**

**Sanguin: latin for blood. You're not very clever are you? **

**Me: I could have made you completely bad. Though despite me writing you as a 'good guy' I'm sure people still hate you for what happens later to our favorite love birds.**

**Sanguin: I could kill you.**

**Me: I could kill you faster. Just call me Kira, because all I need is your name, a keyboard, and forty seconds. Besides saying you're gonna kill me, doesn't make you sound very good does it? **


	12. Chapter 12: The two halves

**AN: last chapter was pretty long so this one is a little shorter. Things will slow down a bit from now on, and I don't think I'll have anyone get into real danger. **

**Connor: translation: he is going to put us in a shit ton of danger, but not as much as he probably wants to.**

**Connor's POV **

_"It's been almost a full day Twyla...you can't just sit here until he wakes up."_

_"I don't care Howleen. When he wakes up I want to be the first thing he sees and I want him to know that I never left his side. I want him to know I love him no matter what he does."_

_"He knows you love him! But we aren't living in a fairy tail, and you need a shower, and that scarf needs to be washed. It reeks."_

_"You're...you're right...but I'm not washing the scarf! It'll get rid of the smell and it...relaxes me."_

_* * *_

_"How is he Little Shadow?"_

_"Oh hi Sanguin. He still hasn't woken up. The doctor says the hemorrhaging has stopped, but those scars from the bullet wounds aren't going to heal. Ever. He's flatlined a couple times too, but other than that he's fine."_

_"I figured as much, that heartbeat doesn't seem to do anything except help him greatly when it works, but completely paralyze him when it doesn't. I swear when he wakes I'm going to lecture him until he wants to meet the sun."_

_"Please go easy on him. If his transformation leaves him even more sore than mine, like you say it will, then he's going to need more rest."_

_"I suppose you're right...speaking of which, I finished translating the section of the journal I was interested in. I'd rather wait for him to wake up first though. Has anyone else stopped by here since I dropped off Blackjack?"_

_"Yeah all our friends that are here have stopped by at least once to see how he's doing. Clawd and Howleen have dropped in the most, Clawd is pretty broken up about the whole thing. He felt responsible for Howleen and Connor."_

_"Well, while Connor's condition is due to the Immortals mostly, the three of them brought this upon themselves. Connor deserves what ever happened to him."_

_"How can you say that!? You're his uncle, and his only family member!"_

_"I say that because I've known him for a very long time. I love him like he's my son, but he's lived for over a millennia. He should be able to make his own decisions and live with the consequences."_

_"I still think you're being a little harsh..."_

_"You're supposed to think that way. You're his leannán."_

_"His what?"_

_"His leannán. It's Irish for 'lover'. He told me that was the way he felt about you a week after he met you."_

_"No ones ever called us lovers before..."_

_"Do you love each other the way a man and a woman do?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Then there you go. Just remember, I can't control your father so keep the activities between you two PG. Okay? I tell you this for the knuckle head's safety because I'm merely your father's partner, not a miracle worker."_

* * *

"Connor! Either wake up all the way, or stop sleeping while you're in a coma!" _Huh? He's never used my name before...uhhh where am I?_

"You're in our head." _Our? It's my head!_ "No. Our head. I live in here too you know."

_I sit up and look across the darkness towards the voice in my head AKA him AKA mister conscience. He's sitting in a leather recliner with a genuine smile on his face. He's holding what looks like a picture frame. _

_This is an odd experience for me because I've never talked to him 'in person' before except in my nightmares. He looks just like me, same jet black hair that stops about mid neck, same pale skin, same lean build, and the same blue/green eyes. Well...eye, everything I just described is only what half of his body looks like. The other half is engulfed in swirling darkness with only a green pentagram where his eye is, and his teeth showing. This is the 'anti-Connor'._

_What's that you're holding Ultios? Wait...how do I know your name?_

"Well you were there when I took over your body. She spoke my true name. Speaking of which, here." _He tosses me the picture frame which I catch with my extended right hand. For some reason he has a picture of Twyla. No the woman looks like Twyla, but it isn't her. Not exactly, though the sight of this picture fills me with joy the same way Twyla does, even though I know it's not actually her. Weird. The woman has more regal features, her hair is much longer, and her skin is more peach like than the grayish blue I've become fond of._

"See, you think I'm bad, and thats about, oh I'd say 90% true, but I'm a lot...happier now that I've found her."

_My anger flares up, turning the 'room' a dull red. "She has a name. It's Twyla." I spit out, clenching my fists and baring my fangs._

"Man...no wonder you were chosen as the vessel, we're so much alike! I know she has a name. I call them her because they are the same person but two different people at the same time. Sort of like you and I. No EXACTLY like you and I."

_What?_

"It's like this." _He snaps his fingers conjuring a quarter into existence._ "...Twyla is one side of a coin. You love Twyla, but I'm in love with the other side. You and I have the same relationship as those two. Two sides to the same coin. A whole, but also two halves. Exactly the same but at the same time, completely different." _He flips the coin, sending it soaring in the air towards me. I catch it and stare at the two sides. One has Twyla while the other has the face of the woman Ultios was looking at._

"I can't believe I couldn't tell it was her until that moment..." _What the hell are you talking about?_ "Oh you'll figure it out soon enough. Now wake up, Twyla is worried sick about you." _So I assume your going to stop trying to take over my body now right?_ "We'll... Not exactly." _He dashes for me, grabs my throat and lifts me off the ground with one hand._ "I want to get out but not for the reason I used to. I want to get out so I can be with my love. It's not like I want to hurt you, you're me. Technically, and I'm you, technically. But seriously, don't keep that poor girl waiting any longer. Well have plenty of time to sleep when we're dead."

* * *

My eyes slowly flutter open to the calming darkness of my hospital room. I can hear the beeps of medical equipment that is monitoring my vital signs. I look down and see I'm in nothing but a pair of shorts with my only light and heat source being Blackjack's sleeping form. His body is giving off a dull orange glow. Believe it or not, before I got my "normal" vampire powers (thats a long story involving a vampiric clown, a talking skeleton, and paper mâché foot soldiers filled with noxious gas.) I used to be afraid of the dark! Blackjack was sort of like my nightlight.

My chest feels...weird...there is something wrong with it on the inside. It feels as though there is a tiny drummer slowly beating on my sternum in a slow, steady rhythm.

***ba-bum* *ba-bum* *ba-bum***

It doesn't seem to be causing any problems, so I push the thoughts about it deep into my mind. The bed I'm lying in slowly creeks as I sit up. When I raise my arm to rub my face, it stops with a jerk. The pair of silver handcuffs keeping me attached to the bed gleam in the minuet light of the room. Guin must have done this to keep me from leaving if I woke up alone like I just did. I lay back down and my mind drifts to what Ultios said.

"What did you mean?" I think aloud to the silence of the room. I can see and hear people walking past the door, their shadows creeping under the light of the door crack. _/I told you, you will know soon enough./_ I'm not going to be able to think without you am I? _/Nope. We're stuck with each other I'm afraid./_ Well I'm still getting used to the semi polite, talkative you, so could you please keep the commentary to a minimum?_ /No problem. I'm not even here. Oh before I forget, Twyla left a note on The table to your left./_ Sure enough, there is my phone fully charged with a sticky note attached to it. I rest my phone on my lap and unfold the note.

_'Connor, I'm taking a shower right now so I left your phone here with you. If you wake up call me, I miss you. With more love than you can even imagine, your ghoul, Twyla. _

_P.S. if you need me to get you anything on my way to the room, I don't want you to hesitate, I'll get it for you!' _

I can't help the huge grin plastered to my face as I'm reading the note. I truly believe I'm the luckiest guy on the planet to have a ghoul who cares about me and loves me so much. A demon like me is not worthy of being loved by an angel like her, not one bit.

The immortals want me so they can get you, don't they? _/Fetch the boy a prize. You hit the nail square on the head. They want to control me, but telling you why would spoil the fun!/_ useless as usual huh? _/Excuse me? Not only have I saved your life ON MY OWN! I've also granted you my power, which VERY effectively turned you into a pseudo god, on several occasions, one of which saved your beloved./_ Keep. Twyla. Out of this._ /Fine. By the way, if you even think about breaking up with this one, I'll induce an aneurism and kill you./_ Wouldn't that kill you too? _/It probably wouldn't. I honestly don't know, I've never had to threaten a vessel before, they usually like me more. Now I'm going to rest, do not disturb me./_

As my thoughts continue to drift about, landing on random points but never staying, I feel a dull ache in my heart. My body becomes flushed with nausea and my first instinct is to find Twyla and hold her as tightly as possible. I fumble with my phone, desperate to call her, when I finish dialing I realize I've invited her to a video chat and not called her.

Her face appears on screen in the blink of an eye. My nausea lessens as soon as I see her gorgeous face. Her hair is dripping wet and is sticking to her head, neck, and back, so she must have still been showering when I called. She speaks first "I can't believe you're awake! Guin said you would be out for a week! You don't know how happy I am right now, how'd you sleep? I wanted to be what you saw when you woke up, but I needed a shower."

"I'm happy to see you too. I slept pretty well actually, how long was I out for?"

"Three days." I choke on my breath, despite not having to breathe.

"What? Three days?" She nods moving some hair out of her face. The camera view goes down farther than she intended. "Damn I can't believe it was that long. Are you still in the shower...?" I ask unsure as my cheeks heat up with a blush that is no doubt visible from space on my porcelain skin.

"No I jumped out to talk to you...why are you blushing?"

"I umm...saw errr...something when you messed with your hair. Actually it was two somethings..." So much for my "morning" wood going away anytime soon.

"Oh. I see..." She says, her cheeks turning a light shade of purple from her now present blush. "Sorry about that..."

"Don't be. Can you come down to my room soon? I need a hug from you REALLY badly."

"Sure, I'll get there as soon as I can. Do you need me to bring anything? Food? Blood?"

"That would be amazing. Don't tell anyone I'm awake, I want a few minutes alone with you before everyone comes and starts bugging us."

"All right I can do that. Be there soon, love you!"

"I love you too." More than you will ever know. "You're perfect in every way, and I just cant put into words how much you mean to me." I blurt out without thinking.

"...You're the best boyfriend ever, you know that?" She hangs up, leaving me alone for the time being. I realize now that after seeing her the thumping in my chest has gotten more rapid, it feels good. I notice one of the machines beeping in time with the rhythm of my chest. I've seen machines like those before, it's a heartbeat monitor.

Wait a minute...I-I have a heartbeat?! What the hell? This is weird, oh god what happened?!

Blackjack's head shoots up when he senses my distress. He stands up in the bed, slowly scanning every corner with a low rumble originating from his throat. His gaze lands on me before happily greeting me by licking my face with his rough tongue before settling on the floor next to my hospital bed.

I feel my excitement rise and my nausea dissipate when I hear Twyla's heartbeat approaching my door. The door opens as she struggles to get in while balancing a tray. After a few seconds she closes the door and walks over to the bedside. She sets the tray down on a bedside table to my left, Blackjack trots over and says hello to the new alpha female of his pack by jumping up on her shoulders and licking her nose, making her giggle uncontrollably. "Blackjack, down." I growl causing him to whimper and lay back down on the other side of the bed.

"Hey babe." She says as she gives me a quick peck on the cheek. Her eyes linger on my bare chest and I feel self conscience and turned on all at the same time as she bites her lower lip. Right when I almost can't take it anymore, she shakes head to snap herself out of it. "I got you chili, and all they had was artificial blood. No one knows you're awake so we're alone for right now." She's wearing dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt along with the scarf I was going to give her. She just stands there stiffly, wearing what is obviously a forced smile, due to the fact that her eyes aren't crinkling.

"Ok, what's going on? I haven't seen or held you in three days. Why are you being so rigid around me? I want a hug..."

"Well...aren't you sore at all?" She says avoiding my piercing gaze.

"Yes, I'm in excruciating pain right now, but quite frankly I want to hug you and feel your heartbeat against my chest." I extend my free arm, inviting her to snuggle up against me. She climbs into the bed and buries herself in my chest. Near silence follows with the only sound being the three heartbeats in the room and Twyla and Blackjack's steady breathing. I actually begin to doze off but I'm jerked awake by Twyla's quiet sobbing.

"I-I'm so g-glad you're o-o-ok...!" She lets out another heavier sob. I pull her closer and attempt to wrap my other arm around her to comfort her.

"Blackjack?" I say getting his attention before gesturing to the hand cuffs. He stands up and opens his maw of glowing orange teeth, and bites through the metal like a hot knife through butter. The cuffs clatter to the floor and I bring both my arms around the sobbing figure on my chest. "Shhh Shhh. Everything's ok, I'm not going anywhere, I won't let anything happen to you."

She raises her head and looks at me with sad, tear dripping eyes. It breaks my heart to see her like this. I wipe away the tears on her face and kiss her forehead. "Now, tell me whats wrong so I can fix it."

She lets out a heavy sigh and calmly places her head against my chest so her ear rests on my heart. "Ok...so after the fight where we both transformed...you remember that right?"

"Fuzzy, fragmented, bits and pieces that are a mile away in a pool of water. I do remember you with...wings or something. You kind of looked like an angel."

She smiles lightly and laces her fingers through mine. "Well after the fight you sort of...had a heart attack. Except it was like a super heart attack wrapped in a seizure topped with nerve shutdown. You were...d-dead...for fourteen seconds. I revived you somehow but afterwards we found out you had a heartbeat. The only good side effect that Guin found, is that since blood is moving faster through your body, you'll heal faster or something because blood is what heals vampires, I don't know what he said exactly. Some sciency, vampire anatomy, mumbo jumbo. Anyway you flatlined a few times throughout your coma and always were back to normal a few seconds later, but on the second day you had another "super heart attack" and you...you were...you w-were..."

The tears in the corners of her eyes are threatening to come pouring out again. "I was dead?"

She nods wiping her eyes before continuing. "You were dead for one hour, twenty two minutes, and fifty seven seconds. They said you were gone for good, and even Guin started to believe it. He just sat next you and stared at you the entire time...it was eerie seeing him with such an empty, hopeless look in his eyes. Clawd broke both his arms punching the floor into dust, Duece was just...silent...Jackson let Holt have control so he didn't have to deal with it, and everyone else just cried. I tried so many times to bring you back like I did the first time but NOTHING was working. Daddy finally started to shake you and scream at you to stop being dead because it wasn't fair to me. That's when I heard the voice in my head, calmly telling me to place both my hands on your heart. I did just that, and the voice told me to start singing to you softly. Obviously I was desperate to save you, so I listened. After I finished the song, you came back to life as if nothing had happened."

I'm shocked at her story. I can't believe I put them through all that... I can't believe I put TWYLA through all that... "Twyla, I'm-I'm sorry I made you go through that...will you forgive me...?"

She blinks at me, with a puzzled expression. "Why would I need to forgive you? You didn't do anything! Your body is just adjusting to your new heartbeat is all." She seals her statement by planting her lips upon mine. An action which makes my heart flutter and my head feel dizzy, and at the same time more clear.

We separate and she settles against my chest once more. I look at her and pull out my phone to snap a picture of her lying against me. She looks so calm and peaceful, and shes smiling with that smile that turns my insides to mush and fills me with joy. I set the picture as my wallpaper so I can look at her any time I want to. "What song?"

"Huh?"

"What song did you sing me?"

Her cheeks turn light purple "Uh...ummm...it was...'feel so close' by Calvin Harris...don't laugh..."

"Why are you embarrassed? That's a good song!"

"I thought you weren't in to love songs?"

"My favorite Skillet songs are the love songs. I think of you with most of them..."

"Love you too." I let out a chuckle before kissing her forehead again.

"This is all I need, right here. My favorite ghoul, my badass flaming dog, and chili."

"Oh! Your chili is gonna get cold!" She pulls the tray and sets it on my lap and tries to hand me the spoon."

"Ahhh owwww. Babe I think I broke my arm, I guess you'll have feed me..."

She smiles mischievously. "Oh all right."

After I've eaten all the food and drank all the blood, Twyla sets the tray back on the night stand before laying back against my chest. She places her hand gently over my heart, which sends shivers throughout my whole body. "Wow, you're really tense...why don't you just relax?"

"I would, but it feels like every muscle in my body is being tazed individually."

She sits up before bringing me into a sitting position and crawling behind me. "What are you-?" I'm interrupted by her starting to rub my shoulders and back. "Oh...god...that feels amazing babe..."

"Glad you like it. You seem relaxed now, do you want me to stop...?"

"NO! I mean...PLEASE don't stop...it feels good..." She goes back to massaging my back. "OH GOD! I love you so much..."

"I love you too." She says hugging me from behind.

Yep, she is all I'll ever need or want.

* * *

"Oh god...Twyla. Don't stop. Mmm that feels so good..."

The door bursts open and Samuel grabs me with tentacles protruding from his back and pins me to the wall. "Daddy stop!"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN HERE?! CARE TO EXPLAIN?"

"Sir it is not what it looks or sounds like! I was sore and she was massaging me!"

"BULLSHIT!" He starts to squeeze my throat with his hands and my vision begins to blur as my circulation is cut. I see Twyla trying to pull him off of me, and my eyes have started changing now. Blackjack is growling angrily at Samuel, but is not attacking him.

I need...to...kill...I'm going to kill him...Let me have...the power...ULTIOS!

"Dad! GET OFF OF HIM NOW!"

I feel the blood flow return to my brain and my vision clears. Twyla helps me to my feet. Her tattoos and eyes are glowing and shadows dance around her arms and through her hair. She looks as if she's underwater...she's beautiful.

The goddess before me stands in front of me protectively as Samuel rises.

Guin walks in at that moment to find Samuel on his knees, and Twyla and I standing next to one another, with signs of our transformations threatening to break through, though I notice both of us are coming to our senses. "Okay then...somebody care to explain what the hell I just walked in on?" Twyla quickly helps up her dad before hugging him quickly and coldly.

"Well I...uh...overreacted a little coming down the hall...I heard noises and thought that Connor was...ah...having his way with my daughter...turns out he wasn't...erm sorry about that Connor..." Twyla is obviously pissed at her father, apparently that hug was to apologize for kicking his ass because she now stands with her hand on my shoulder glaring at him.

"That's...alright...I suppose. I can understand, if it was my daughter I...probably wouldn't have shown as much restraint as you...so uh thank you?"

"Why are you here anyway?" Twyla practically spits at them. Is it weird that I like her being upset that I'm in pain?

"Well..." Guin begins as he strokes Blackjack's fur "Like I said I finished translating the journal and I was waiting for all four of us to tell you what it says."

"Wait...this means it will subdue...whatever the hell makes me crazy right?"_ /...What?.../_

"Umm...in theory yes. In reality...I think my plan will only help you become more easily calmed by Twyla. As you probably forgot, you weren't subdued by her touch a while ago and I think I know why now. It's a long story so everyone get comfortable."

Guin remains on the floor with Blackjack, Samuel leans against the wall and crosses his arms, and I plop on the bed. Twyla looks her father right in the..."eyes"...before positioning herself on my lap. "Every one ready for story time? Ok good this is a long one like I said and this is...more or less a direct translation of the text. Keep in mind I'm relaying the abridged version."

"Get on with it old man..." I mutter wrapping my arms around my ghoul out of habit.

"I could still out run you, little one." He mutters as he slides the old leather bound journal from his black duster and flips to a particular page.

*ahem* "A very, very long time ago, there once were many gods that lived with humans in uneasy peace. The middle ground of the two species was magic. Despite being powerful and immortal, the gods could still be harmed by magic. We're focusing on two gods in particular, Ultios, the god of chaos, destruction, and a force of evil, and Teloa, the goddess of love, harmony, dreams, and a force of good. Ultios was more powerful than any other god and, despite not being inherently evil but wanting to spread peace, often was a slave to his nature and caused all but two living things misery. One fateful day, Ultios lost control and plunged an entire human city into the ocean, most know this city as Atlantis. The ruler of all gods and living things, known as Chebotu knew that they had to find a way to tame Ultios or he would inevitably destroy all of creation. Their chosen course of action was to make him fall in love with Chebotu's daughter, Teola. She was already in love with Ultios so she agreed to the plan. Because it was for the good of creation Chebotu granted her the power to pacify any god, Something that could happen only if the god was in love with her. As Ultios was on his daily rampage and terrorizing a human settlement, Teola appeared at the gates. Ultios was dumbstruck by her beauty and instantly fell in love with her. When she suggested it, he agreed to have his soul become one with hers using shadows. Ultios was finally able to control himself when he was with her and he helped her spread good will and love like he had always dreamed, but his old ways occasionally emerged. Usually when he spent time away from her, he grew extremely bitter and short tempered. While both actually grew more ill the longer they were away from one another, Teola always remained positive. One day, when they were together, a human settlement saw Ultios and panicked. They started attacking him using magic from within there walls. One accidentally struck Teola, badly wounding her."

Guin gives his finger a lick and flips the page with a jerk before continuing. "Ultios, blind with rage, began striding toward the city with the intent on leveling it for harming his love. They were saved by her intervention when she pleaded for him to spare the city. He did this for her, and the humans were grateful to her for saving them, so they had a great feast honoring the two gods to praise them."

He begins humming to himself as he scans through the journal, probably skipping the parts that weren't important to the story.

"Earth, the gods, Humanity, and all other living things, experienced a period of peace that was never before thought possible. Eventually Teola became pregnant with Ultios's child. The baby was predicted to be the goddess of balance when she was born. A child formed from the joining of chaos and harmony. But despite the peace, and good news of a goddess that would rule over everyone, the nature of something is inescapable. This time Humanities' nature got the better of them. Ultios had only two people he truly cared about, and that cared about him. One was obviously Teola but the other was a human, and Ultios's best friend. The human was very kind, and understanding toward Ultios. He always tried unsuccessfully to calm Ultios when he had an outburst. But like all humans, he wanted power. The original plan seemed plausible. Ultios would lose his one true love and child, be stricken with grief, and would then be much easier to manipulate. But what actually happened was that Ultios grew enraged when he watched his best friend murder his soul mate, and unborn child, with an enchanted dagger. This rage grew to hate, hate of all human beings. In his fury Ultios sought to eradicate ALL humans by creating something even more evil and manipulative than them and that would pray on their life essence. Vampires. As Teola breathed her last, in her extremely slow death which was the downside to being a god, her heart was shattered from watching Ultios destroy the humans. In her last moments, unable to actually calm Ultios, she preformed two miracles. One was the creation of the sun, a vampires most formidable weakness, to save the humans. She valued the lives of ALL living things even the humans. The sun had the side effect of destroying Ultios's physical body. The second miracle was setting a prophecy in motion. The original batch of vampires, had a special ability to potentially host Ultios in their bodies. These vampires worshipped Ultios as the one true god and took his name, Produltiones which means 'followers of Ultios'."

He takes a break from reading and clears his throat a little more before speaking to me. "Obviously you and I don't worship Ultios but its nice to finally know our history and understand why we have eyes like ours. I think you both know where I'm getting with this but just let me finish."

"The prophecy states that when Ultios takes refuge in the perfect host with the intent of destroying creation, Teola's spirit will also take a host. This person will be the only being that can calm the vampire who hosts Ultios when he loses control of the power. Ultios never stopped loving Teola even as his body was destroyed, so the hosts will fall in love almost as if by destiny and that is where the power to calm him will come from. They are, in theory, reincarnations of those two gods. You two are the reincarnations of Ultios." He glances at me. "And Teola."

Silence fills the room. "...What?" I ask, because I am extremely confused right now.

"Look, I don't know how it happened, but YOU are the vampire currently hosting the spirit Ultios! You have the power to reduce...everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, to ashes. Twyla is hosting Teola, which is why she can pacify you with merely a touch."

"But wait, it didn't work when we did our experiment. Why not?"

He purses his lips and rests his chin on his hands. "Well I've been thinking about that and I have a few explanations. One: you touched his face, not his heart. Two: when Ultios watched Teola die and vice versa, their spirits were separated for lord knows how long. Three: I don't think either Connor or Ultios was in control then. He acted purely on instinct. I believe, judging from the story, that if Connor has full control, or if Ultios has full control, that neither will use their power to fulfill the prophecy. In other words, Connor is Ultios's desire to be good but Ultios is Connor's evil nature."

_/That is what I wanted you to understand./ _

"So..." Guin continues "As corny as it sounds, according to the story you two are soul mates."

I gaze straight into Twyla's eyes and she gazes into mine. "I didn't need that old book to tell me that." I say, more to her than anyone else.

"Me neither." She replies and gives me a quick peck on the lips. "So how does this help our predicament?"

"Well...you see in the story, recall that Teola tethered their souls using shadows and was then able to control Ultios so long as he loved her. We have half of that formula, but your souls are not bonded to one another. The MDA has a process to link the souls of two individuals called soul binding. What I'm trying to say is if we bind your souls to one another, We could not only somehow bury Ultios deeper in your mind, but Twyla could calm you even if she was nowhere near you."

The angel in my lap suddenly stands up, slightly startling me. "So what are we waiting for? Lets go do it now!"

Samuel speaks for the first time in a while. "It's not that simple dear. The process is very complicated and requires a soul shard, something that are damn near impossible to obtain. There have only been a few EVER created and the MDA has the only known one. They have said the only way they will bind your souls is if Connor first becomes an agent."

"But...that's crazy! He almost died the last time he faced the Immortals!"

Hey Ultios? _/hmm?/_ are you okay with this? _/...go for it. Hearing that story reminded me that whenever you and Twyla show affection to one another, I can feel Teola's love. Plus, I hate the Immortals, the last thing I want is to fulfill that prophecy./_ that's all the motivation I need.

I clear my throat to cease the argument between my three visitors. Twyla looks at me with concern and fear and i know she knows what I'm about to say. The look in her eyes makes me hesitate before continuing. "I'll do it. I'll join the MDA."

**AN:Guess what? I baited another story (probably just a one shot about how Connor got his vampire powers) I might as well just tell you, it will be a prequel (obviously). Anyone in the munchkin army will probably know what verse the fic will take place in. If you've never heard of the munchkin army, then you're not going to know and I feel very sorry for you.**

**Everything from the origin onward was an absolute pain in the ass to write. Feel free to PM me with any questions. I thought I made it as clear as I could, but it's easy to fix if I know what's confusing. I also want to know, do you guys think I should have Ultios be more of a mentor/friend to Connor? (Good) Or should I have him constantly trying to trick Connor into letting him have full control? (Evil) Any thoughts are appreciated, I do care about what you guys think.**


	13. Chapter 13: Angel Tears And A Murderbot

**AN: Feels like its been forever since I updated. Sorry about that.**

**So if you notice inconstancies with Ultios's personality/attitude it's because last chapter was more of a field test for him. I wrote him both as a 'friend' to Connor and as an evil deity that wants to take over his body for personal gain, to see which felt more natural. From now on he'll be more of a good guy, but who is cranky and HIGHLY IRRITABLE. He's actually my most complicated character. His situation with Connor to me is a vampire with multiple personality disorder, and the alternate personality is bi polar. So if you're confused, chances are I'm ten times more confused. **

**BTW anything using I, my, etcetera are personal thoughts.**

**"This is dialogue."**

***THIS is a SOUND effect/grunt/growl etc* (LOUD/(quiet)**

**/this is Teola or Ultios talking depending on wether the POV is Twyla or Connor respectively/**

**'This is Connor or Twyla talking specifically to their god' though the two gods will still remark on their private thoughts from time to time.**

**Twyla's POV**

I stare at Connor with a blank look for what seems like forever before speaking up. "...What did you just say?" /He said he wants to go through with it. It's a good idea if you ask me-/ 'I didn't, Teola.' /-I love Ultios more than anything but he and I both agreed a long time ago he's dangerous. I highly doubt he will just stop trying to break out though./

I've been starting to hear Teola more often, and actually hold conversations with her. I wish I could have talked to her before I met Howleen so I maybe would have had someone to talk to that didn't make me shy. Believe me, an invisible friend that lived in your head is a dream come true for a ghoul who lives in the shadows.

Connor unravels his arms from around me and shrugs. "I said I'll do it, I want to bring it- I mean bring Ultios under control."

I shoot up and back away from him slightly to scold him. "You can't! It's too dangerous! Besides the only reason the MDA wants you as an agent is BECAUSE of your power!" I can't help the fact that I'm screaming at him, I just...don't want him any closer to the Immortals than he needs to be. Dad "flinches" when I whip around to face him. "That's the truth isn't it?! He's nothing but a weapon to them!"

"We...don't know for certain, little shadow, but I have a hunch that they do in fact want him for his aptitude and potential." Guin says calmly.

I turn back to Connor to try and convince him to change his mind with my hands placed firmly on my hips. "See? Do you honestly think you won't be in constant danger?" I grab his hands in mine and look at him with my best puppy eyes. "Please...Connor...don't do this..."

Guin clears his throat and starts to scratch his beard. "The MDA also wants Connor for something else. They want to study him."

He removes his hands from mine and turns toward Guin, causing me to let out a defeated groan I can't control. "Come again?"

"They want to study you. Connor, when your-I mean Ultios's power leaks out, the energy produced is...incredible to say the least. The egg heads believe that if they were to study you they would be able to develop a near limitless source of clean energy, and discover new technology decades ahead of our time. A few other mages and I also believe the energy you produce is more versatile than ANYONE ever believed."

"Cut to the chase already Viper, tell him what you told us."

"Alright think of Connor's energy as...stem cells, and think of any and all forms of energy, including magic, as specialized cells."

"Ok...and...?" Connor seems to be getting impatient. Not surprising, he's probably more interested in fighting and marksmanship than science.

"Your body becomes encased in the energy, the darker the color the more concentrated raw power. It's a giant supply of power that your body can break down and specialize into...whatever sort of "fuel" you need wether it be nutrition, even greater speed and strength, or what you seem to prefer when you're powered up: absolutely incredible, unbelievable feats of magic that don't seem possible whatsoever, but in fact are."

My boyfriend gets a look of utter skepticism on his face as he leans away from his uncle. "Right...next you'll be telling me I'm powered by the sun and can shoot lasers from my eyes and that only a glowing green rock can kill me. Oh! Maybe after that happens Twyla can change her name to Lois Lane!"

Guin clearly hears the scarcasm in Connor's voice, but surprisingly didnt get the reference to Superman. "I'm sure with enough discipline with your powers, and a little help from Ultios, you can do...well anything that's within the laws of science or magic from shooting concentrated heat from your eyes, to healing any number of illnesses. Though the solar powered thing is a bit of a stretch. You would be a god living amongst mere worms, and I refer to ALL forms of life when I say that, the only two beings even remotely close to having as much power as you are Twyla and...Mevolkihar..." He spits out the second name like a distant, bitter, memory.

Connor gets a look in his eye, like he just figured out an answer to a puzzle but is trying to hide it with a very bad poker face.

"But even if that were an option, which it is not so get that thought out of your head, it would take tens of thousands of years to even begin to scratch the surface of your potential."

"How do you figure I can do those things?"

Guin lets out a hardy chuckle. as his body quakes with laughter for no apparent reason, Connor gets a little nervous. "Boy, when you've lived as long as me, you tend to notice things but that's not even how I know. Your "Ultion eyes" as the journal refers to them, are still relatively new. Mine are completely developed so when they're active...I see the energy of living beings sort of like an infrared signature. When I tried to focus on your signature a few days ago, I was nearly blinded by how much power you and Twyla were giving off. She's not nearly as powerful as you when she taps into Teola's power, but she has control unlike you. The only other person in existence right now that can actually SEE magic is my bro-an adversary of mine. You will eventually achieve this ability when you mature. Physically I mean, I doubt you'll ever grow up on the inside which isn't a bad thing."

Connor nods slowly as he contemplates in his head. My heart sinks when he shakes his head and sighs sadly. "I'm sorry Twyla...but If I can suppress the power Ultios produces, I won't ever have to worry about...killing well...everything...ever again."

Dad clears his throat and speaks, the only reason I don't interrupt him is because I'm still in shock at Connor's answer. "Well...not exactly...if the bond were broken, say Twyla were to...pass...the bond would be broken, the stress of losing her would no doubt trigger the transformation into...whatever form of you is supposed to destroy the world, and there would be no stopping you, even if we wanted to kill you."

"What happens when Connor's an agent and loses control on a mission? Even if this process boosts my ability to calm him, it won't do any good if I'm nowhere near him." I say mostly just thinking out loud. But this gives me an idea...

"I...actually never even considered that...that's...uh...that's a problem..." Guin rubs his chin deep in thought for a few seconds before I say the words that no doubt shock the two men in my life to their cores.

"Well...there's an easy fix. If Connor HAS to join the agency, I'll just join with him and be his partner like you two." I give my best, most confident smirk to show I was serious.

"Pardon me?!" Dad yells shooting away from the wall.

Surprisingly, Connor just sits there, silent and unmoving with his head down and his face hidden by a curtain of glistening black hair. I place my hand upon his cheek and look into his eyes, he's purposefully avoiding my gaze. "Baby? Are you okay with this?"

His head jerks up and he has a mixture of sadness, hopelessness, and slight anger plastered on his face. "Are you fucking kidding me? Of course I'm not okay with it!"

My hands return to my hips and I cock an eyebrow. "Okay, why not?"

"Because! Were you not there the night we had to leave behind our home town?! Did you not see the death and destruction brought on by the immortals?! Did you not see Clawdeen get murdered? Did you not see what they made me do to those people?! Did you forget the fact that they KILLED ME? I! WAS! DEAD!"

I start to feel tears form in the corners of my eyes, but I will not cry.

I. Will not. Cry.

His voice softens, but only slightly, as he tries to caress my face but I gently brush his hand away because quite frankly, I'm a little pissed. "Remember how you felt when they killed me. Imagine if I didn't come back, do you really want to do that to me?!"

I can't help it now, my tears are flowing freely with a liquid mixture of hurt and anger. "How dare you!" I choke out looking him straight in he eye so he can see the pain in my eyes. "How dare you use my own emotions against me, and pretend like I want to do this just to hurt you! You're a hypocrite!"

/Child...just calm down.../ 'what? No!' /you're in the right here but don't get angry over it! Your emotions play a big role for his mood./

He looks down and avoids my piercing gaze. "I just want to protect you..."

I take a breath before continuing. "Did you ever think I just wanted to protect you too?" And with that I storm out of the room with my body full of sorrow and anger.

"Twyla! Wait!" I hear a loud crash and Connor scream. "GAHHHH! FUCKING MOTHER FUCKER FUCKETY FUCKSTICKS!"

I don't turn back as I hurry out of the room. 'Teola, what just happened?' /He appears to have injured him self. You're pretty mad at him right?/ 'what gave it away?'

The shadows clouding my vision dissipate and I collapse on the couch in the apartment I was invisioning. I haven't been in this room for days but Clawd and Howleen still sleep here. My tears have stopped flowing and all the emotions swirling inside me settle to the bottom of my gut sending a total wave of nausea over my body.

'Teola how come I get nauseas if I'm away from Connor for too long?' /It's a residual effect from when I bonded my soul to Ultios's. this happens after our two hosts meet and then are separated. Usually what happens is they, meaning our vessels, would pass one another on the street, or in a business office, or on public transportation, then be stricken with waves of nausea. Most of the time, with my vessels at least, it would be mistaken for chronic migraines./

"Uhhhh...this sucks..." I groan grabbing my forehead. /Should help us four make up faster./ 'Us four?' /Yes You, Connor, Ultios, and myself./ 'Okay... I'm still mot following you.' /Think of me as your older sister, who is dating your boyfriends older brother. Only I live inside your head and can't be with my love when you and Connor fight./ 'Oh...that actually helps a lot...'

The door slowly opens to reveal Howleen who starts to head to her bed before she notices me. Her golden irises land on my cheeks glistening with tears. "Hey ghoul...what's wrong?" She asks softly before joining me on the couch.

"Long story. You don't want to hear it." More like I don't think I could talk about it.

"What are you talking about? You're my best friend! Of course I want to hear it! I want to help you."

I preceded to tell her about everything from Connor waking up, to him wanting to join the MDA but making me stay. I left out the part about Teola and Ultios. "That's pretty much it." I say with a sniffle.

"I can't believe he would do that! What an asshole!"

"Are you just agreeing with me because your my friend?"

"No, I genuinely believe he's an asshole for saying that and turning something like that against you. I mean no offense, but you were kind of a train wreck while he was in his coma. Besides its not even his decision, you can join if you want." She stands and looks at me with her arms crossed.

"Thanks Howleen...I'm sure him and I will work this out though. So don't hurt him!" I say the last sentence with more venom than I intended.

"Jesus, chill the fuck out! I'm not going to lay a paw on him."

"Sorry Howleen...I don't know what came over me..." I felt like...Teola's mind and mine were...the same when I said it...like we both had the exact same thought and it overlapped into the overprotectiveness of that sentence.

'Is that the way Connor thinks when he's powered up?' /I can't know for sure, but I imagine so. Ultios always was highly overprotective of me even when he was in a good mood. What just happened was our...I mean your...mind reacting to what Howleen said and focusing on protecting Connor, despite him not even being in the room. When you and his uncle-/ 'Sanguine' /-tricked Connor the same thing happened. Ultios and him were essentially of one mind and they powered up in a response to complete a task: protect you./ 'What about in the town?' /Well...then Ultios had full control if Connor. Then all he wanted to do was kill, until I revealed myself to him in your body./ 'and how did he know it was you...?' /...love/

**Connor's POV**

I immediately regret saying everything I just said as I watch the love of my life storm out of the room with tears in her eyes. Tears that I drew out.

"Twyla wait!" I leap off the bed and my left leg gives off a cringe worthy...

***CRRRACCKKKK***

"GAHHHHH! FUCKING MOTHER FUCKER FUCKETY FUCKSTICKS!" /You're an imbecile. You've broken your fibula. Your bones are incredibly brittle for some reason./ 'I...can...see that...you...fucker...'

The pain I'm feeling right now is...literally blinding. I feel someone help me sit up. The bone shifts as it tries to heal itself eliciting another roar of pain from the back of my throat.

"Damn it boy! Keep still!" A pinch in my arm, followed by a bubbly sensation in my head and chest eases the pain. Eventually, my leg is completely numb, and I feel like there is gel being rubbed on my leg. My eyes open to Guin steadily lifting me up so I can stand on my own, a green bubble dissipates from his right hand. "There. Don't walk yet, your little escapade with your friends left your body damaged. Irreparably so in some areas."

He's probably talking about the scars covering my torso. Right now I want nothing more than to chase after Twyla. To tell her that I'm willing to join the MDA with her, so we can protect each other, but I doubt Guin will let me leave yet. "Why...didn't *pant*...you...heal me...while I was...asleep?"

"You weren't "asleep" you were in a god damn coma! Not only in a coma, but in a coma with a biological function that shouldn't even be possible for a vampire. I didn't know the risks of healing magic, nor did I want to test the limits of your heart, that by some freak accident is beating."

"You said...my heartbeat...would..." The bone shifts once more and settles with a pop as I adjust my leg, forcing an angry hiss from my throat. "Heal me faster..."

Guin grabs another needle and slams the plunger down as he jams it into my thigh. He hits the wall when my leg juts out to meet his stomach. I feel bad, but the pain is gone again. "...Owwww...you've got your father's strength you know that...? I'll warn you from now on before I give you pain killers. The pulse helps with wounds to tissue, and vital organs, but not bone. That's still normal vampire speed."

Samuel helps Guin stand before growling and turning to me. "You know, if you weren't my best friend's kid I'd kick your ass for making my daughter cry!"

I've completely run out of patience by this point. "Do you think I like making her cry?! How about you stay out of our fights and let us deal with our own problems!"

*THWACK*

I hear one of my fangs clatter into a dark corner of the room to be forgotten forever as another replaces it almost instantly. /Show this poor imbecile TRUE pain. Hell, let me do it for you./ 'No. What gives? I thought you were done and were gonna let me restrain you, what about all that stuff about the prophecy?' /.../

"Don't you ever tell me what I can and can't do with my daughter!" He starts to storm out. I notice Blackjack growling viciously at Samuel, with Guin holding his collar firmly and unmoving. I'm struck with the angry ball of fire and fur midair as I sail toward Samuel's exposed back.

"You two need to calm. The fuck. Down." Guin growls before placing a hand firmly on Samuels shoulder. "And you. I'm sorry Connor said that, he was completely out of line. But if you place a single finger upon him again, I will kill you."

Samuel throws Guin's hand off his shoulder before finally leaving the room. The room is silent except for my angry breathing, and it's getting a little awkward.

"So, what is that stuff anyway?" I ask referring to the needle containing the substance I've been injected with twice now.

"Oh. It's just a stim. It's a non addictive pain killer that was developed for use in the military. The REAL cool thing is you can't overdose either, so you shouldn't die."

"Why would I die..?" I say with a gulp.

"I gave you triple the recommended dose. Both times."

"Lets not do that anymore ok? We don't know how my heart will react to drugs like this...hey Guin?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think I can get high off of human drugs now?"

I realize what I said and mentally kick myself. "You're probably more resistant to drugs than before. Since you asked about human drugs specifically, I'm gonna guess you've been hiding something from me?" I remain completely silent. "Mmhmm that's what I thought. You're not going to do it again, do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." In my defense, the two occasions I actually did monster narcotics were my 1500th birthday, and right before I had to move. I was lucky enough to be able to use 'rush', as its known, and enjoy the high, but I never got hooked on it. Which is sort of a blessing because if someone gets addicted to rush their whole life turns to shit.

"Good. Well I think you and Twyla have had enough time to think. Go apologize."

"What should I say? I mean, I want her happy and close to me, but I don't want her in constant danger!"

"Hey, she's not my girlfriend. You deal with it his you see fit. Keep in mind, the key to a good relationship is to make HER happy."

With that my uncle walks out of the room with Blackjack in tow, most likely to find Samuel and resolve the recent conflict.

My mind lazily drifts among the many things I could say to Twyla once I get to our room, which is the only place I could think of where she went. Should I just apologize and grit my teeth when we become agents? Should I try to explain why I said those hurtful things? God, this is the second most complicated relationship I've ever been in. The first was with this vampire girl named Allison. I'd rather not talk about her though, we...didn't exactly end the relationship on good terms.

'Any ideas?' /Just apologize and do whatever she says. I hate the idea of her being in danger even more than you, but she isn't going to just sit back and watch you throw yourself into the path of danger./ 'I sort of meant how to justify what I said...' /HAHAHAHA! Are you kidding me? And miss the fun of watching you squirm? HAHAHAHA! No./ 'Asshole'

I can hear Twyla and Howleen talking inside over the sound of Green Day playing. The door to the room is...intimidating and...ominous. Goddamn it! Why the fuck am I so afraid to talk to her?! She's the person I love the most in the world for crying out loud!...fuck it time to grow a pair Connor... /Bout time, you've been standing here for half an hour while she's been in there chatting with the wolf female/

The chatting inside ceases as I knock on the door. When it opens I'm met with the face of an, obviously angry, wolfette. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

A low rumble escapes my throat and my eyes narrow. "I'm here to talk to my ghoulfriend. Now let me through before I kick the door down."

"How about you just leave. You've hurt her enough already asshole."

I can hear Ultios laughing inside my head as my eyes shift to red. "You are really starting to piss me off. Now LET ME IN!"

"Just let him in Howleen." Twyla's angelic voice caresses my ear drums dampening my anger. Howleen's red orbs narrow and a growl escapes her throat before she moves aside to let me in. I stroll inside returning the growl in equal ferocity.

Twyla rests on the couch, actively avoiding my gaze. Every fiber in my being is screaming for me to rush over and envelop her in my arms. But instead I just stand there like an idiot with my mouth hanging open. "H-hi Twyla."

"Hey. Babe, we need to talk..." She stands up and walks past me out the door before turning and gesturing for me to follow her.

The past five minutes of us walking next to each other has been filled with awkward silence. I guess I'll talk first. "Listen Twyla...I'm sorry I said those things. They were hurtful, and mean, and I'm an asshole, and-"

"So why did you say them?" She's stopped walking and is currently melting my will with her gorgeous purple eyes.

"I...I...I uh..." I stammer causing her to roll her eyes and start walking again. It takes me a moment to snap out of it and catch up with her. "I don't know...I just...can't bear the thought of you being in danger. I-"

"I don't want you to be in danger either! I want to protect you just as much as you want to protect m-"

She's silenced by the finger I've placed on her lips. "Let me finish. I've...given it some more thought and...I'm fine with us both becoming agents...but only on a few conditions."

"Okay...what are these conditions?"

"One, you don't play hero. It's my job to protect YOU not the other way around. Extending from one, if we won't be paired together and I can't watch over you, neither of us will join. End of story."

She nods to herself, mulling over my terms before flashing that confident smile I've recently grown to love. "Alright fair enough. I'm glad you came to your senses, because Guin's plan will be useless if I'm not with you twenty four seven."

"Listen, I'm sorry I...made you cry...I feel awfu-" My sentence is halted when Twyla places her hands on my bare chest and shoves me into a nearby closet.

I break the kiss prematurely and look at her with a mixture of shock and pure bliss. "W-what are you doing..?!"

She smiles seductively before tracing her fingers up and down the back of my neck coaxing a moan from the back of my throat. "We're both a little tense...we need to relax. So we're gonna stay in here and make out until someone catches us."

"God I love you. Have I told you that yet?"

She giggles before throwing her arms around me and bringing her face inches from mine. "You're such a bone head sometimes...I love you too." Her lips begin to move toward mine and I meet her halfway. I wish I could stay in this moment forever. Inside a tiny closet with the ghoul I love as close as possible.

**POV: Unknown**

"Ughhhh...what happened to me?" The teenage boy lying on the table groans to no one in particular. His head and half of his face is bandaged and he's lying next to bloody surgical equipment.

"You were in an...accident. You're okay now though. Do you remember your name young man?"

"It's...Cade...I think..."

"You're absolutely correct!" I turn to the vampire guarding the door. "You! Go and fetch lord Mevolkihar and test subject 83! Now!" The guard responds with a crisp salute before disappearing. My attention returns to Cade who has sat up and is examining his hand. Which happens to be in its true silver form glittering in the dim light of the room.

"W-whats wrong with my hand?" He asks rather calmly.

"Ahh those are the nanites that make up your entire body. You're really quite fascinating you know."

"Nan-whats?"

"Nanites. They're...basically microscopic robots that are working in harmony to create...well...you."

His fist clinches returning to normal, mimicking human flesh. "I'm a freak...I'm a monster! I'm not even a human being!"

At that moment the vampire returns with the two people I requested.

Lord Mevolkihar takes it from here, taking the boy's chin in his hand. "My dear boy you are a human!"

"I...I am a human..."

"And you are VERY important to me."

"And...I am very important to you..."

"You're my secret weapon!"

"I'm your secret weapon." At this point Lord Mevolkihar smiles and turns to test subject 83 who has become rather nervous. And rightfully so, what with his imminent death mere moments away. His jet black hair reminds me of Lord Mevolkihar's...and the Produltiones boy's.

"Now then, Cade? I'm going to test if something we did to you works okay? Are you ready?" The abomination on the table nods confidently. "Wonderful...Solomon?"

"Yes master?" I reply at my lord using my given name.

"What uh...what was the activation word again...?"

"Ahhh yes it's..." I whisper the word into his ear.

He turns back to Cade and utters the word that activates his true purpose. "Drop zone!"

Nothing happens for a few seconds but suddenly Cade rises and stands in front of 83. His eyes narrow mechanically and turn crimson as his skin fragments and shifts revealing the constantly quivering nanites. Before long his entire body is a sea of shifting, turning, and bubbling metal. Blades and hooks have grown out of his arms and back and razor sharp daggers replace the useless dull human teeth. The abomination lets out an earsplitting, unholy screech before pouncing on subject 83 and making short work of him. Through the sound of cloth and flesh being torn to shreds, the terrified screams of the artificial being echo through the room before he is silenced by the mechanical creature on top of him.

Lord Mevolkihar begins to slowly clap when it kneels before its new master. "Good...very good...have him sent to the MDA's FOB near New Salem. I want him assimilated into their ranks yesterday!"

I bow humbly before my lord. "Of course master, I will tend to it at once."

**AN: Damn...that. Was. Hard. To. Write. Probably because I've been flooding my free time with finding new animes to watch. Sorry it's so short guys. Hopefully I get back on my schedule soon, but I doubt it with my time being split into dealing with grades, career choices, and the crazy high amount of drama that comes along with High School. **

**Anyway, see you guys next chapter. It'll probably be a couple chapters before I plunge the cast of SOTI into hell on earth with my own version of Bootcamp.**


	14. Message to readers

**Hey guys, its me. I just wanted to let you know I will be putting Shadow of the Immortals on a temporary hiatus for an undetermined amount of time. this do to the fact that I have a MASSIVE case of writers block for this story. On the other hand my head is swimming with ideas for a Rosario+Vampire fanfic (manga NOT the anime) I have a title, main character, and most of the major plot points figured out. It's going to (hopefully) be called "Mizore Loves Company" or something along those lines. if you like monsters (especially vampires) I suggest you read the manga, its pretty good and has kind of a monster high feel to it with the messages. This is Cheesebobington temporarily signing off. **


End file.
